About Michelle Thompson Expertise Many of the experts in this category seem to be advancing pro-choice agendas rather than providing personal insights to abortion that can't otherwise be found on any simple Google search. I am an abortion survivor, having had an abortion in 1989. I can not only discuss facts about abortion, many of which are being hidden from women by pro-abortionists, but I can discuss my personal experience with it and the ramifications it has had on my life to this day, 17 years later. If you are considering abortion and want the details that abortionists and the government are hiding from you, or if you are suffering afterward and need to talk about it, I would love to shed some light on the issue for you; including psychological, medical procedures and risks, and social effects of abortion on our culture. I am not a physician, but I AM a woman with first-hand experience from a mother's perspective. Don't discount the long-term ramifications of your actions today, both on the life of your unborn baby, AND on your life down the road. Don't you owe it to yourself to find out ALL of the information before choosing?
Experience I have had an abortion and can speak from experience and research that I've done in an effort to find out more about what I did. Much information was hidden from me or unavailable at the time of my abortion, and the internet has opened up new doors for me and other women to come to terms with the reality.
Education/Credentials 90 credit hours at a major state university with a 3.4 GPA. High school graduate with a 98 average, which was the top 5% of my graduating class of 550 students.
Question Dear Ms. Thompson,
I am a student studying abortion's affects on the US socially and economically. I have already researched and read newspaper articles and website articles. I am hoping that you might be able to help me understand abortion to a greater extent by answering these questions:
1. How have abortions changed since you went through with yours?
2. How did the abortion affect you? (emotionally, physically, socially)
3. How has your abortion changed your outlook on life?
I greatly appreciate any help you may offer. My project is due on April 27, 2007.
Answer Dear Natasha,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I hope this information isn't too late to help you with your project:
1) How have abortions changed since you went through with yours?
I believe that there have been very few changes to abortion since then. The abortion industry still consistently tries to avoid giving a woman all of the facts. It's unconscionable that the business that stands to profit from a woman choosing abortion is allowed to be her source of information about the procedure, about her unborn baby, and about the risks to her own health.
When I had my abortion, I remember asking them "How big is it?" Their short, abrupt answer was "it's just a blob of cells, now sign here and give us your $350 cash". Literally...that's how it went...I'm not exaggerating. I was too young, naive, and scared to press it further. They were very intimidating and condescending, now that I look back from the comfortable age of 38. Today, I would never allow someone to treat me with such a dismissive attitude. But there are other young women being treated this way to this very day, and it makes me so sad. And the abortion supporters continue to fight tooth and nail so defeat legislation that would offer a woman "true informed consent" by telling her about fetal development, and offering her a sonogram before aborting her baby. Fully 80% of women who view a sonogram decide NOT to abort...we can't have that now, can we? That would cut profits just WAY too much.
2) How did the abortion affect you? (emotionally, physically, socially)
My abortion affected me in so many ways. Physically, there weren't any noticeable scars that I could see, although there could have conceivably been damage to my cervix; but emotionally, there were plenty of damages.
My first reactions to my abortion were sadness, depression, and nightmares crying for my baby. That lasted for quite a while and I actually required medication for depression because I was barely able to function.
Once I finally came out of that deep funk, which took a lot of work and about a year, I thought I was ok. That's when I fell into a pattern of promiscuity that really became a problem in my emotional life. I was looking for love. I wanted to feel wanted. I was trying to replace my baby. I was careless and allowed myself to become pregnant again, I believe now, subconsciously trying to replace my baby. I went round and round and finally decided to keep my child, but then had a miscarriage. Actually, it turned out to be a "false pregnancy" in which a woman's body creates all of the hormones and even a birth sac and placenta, but there just is no baby there. So my "miscarriage" was really called a "blighted ovum". It was still psychologically very painful, as I had gotten used to the idea that I was going to have a baby and had even gotten happy about it. I cried a lot.
Socially and emotionally, my abortion affects me to this very day. I am now dealing with the exact opposite problem than I had back then. I am married to a lovely man and we have two little boys; but I don't have any interest in sex. It has a negative association for me and I am very bitter that something so wonderful and beautiful that I could be sharing with my husband has been taken away from me, from us. I am working on getting it back. It is a long process. I hope you can appreciate my honesty in discussing this with the world.
3) How has your abortion changed your outlook on life?
Abortion has changed my outlook on life in so many ways. It is sad that it took the death of my child to learn this, but here it is; hope it's not to cliche;
“Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.”
I believe that life itself is a series of detours. All of them are really just tests of our beliefs, of our principles, of our strength, and of our ability to learn from our mistakes. I learned this over the years since my abortion; that the true test of one’s character lies in their response to adversity. An unplanned pregnancy is a very effective test of so many people; not only of the pregnant mother, but of all those around her. When an abortion ultimately occurs, everyone involved, (not just the mother) have utterly failed that test.
The father fails by disappearing either physically or emotionally, or by using threats of abandonment or even physical harm to the mother if she doesn’t “get rid of it”. Many times, he fails her by shrugging and saying “it’s your decision”. This is called "passing the buck" and it’s the most cowardly thing he could do.
The best friend fails by refusing to honestly discuss their views on abortion with the pregnant mother for fear of “pushing my beliefs on her” or “making her feel worse than she already does”. So many “friends” don’t have the courage to stand up and warn her and save her from a lifetime of regret.
The abortionist fails by greedily preying on a mother’s despair and confusion; by providing an uncreative and cynical “solution” to a complex problem.
Society fails by, rather than solving the problems that plague our society’s children, choosing instead to eradicate the unborn human beings who may be affected by those problems; problems of poverty, lack of education, disability, fatherlessness, or of simply being “unwanted”. Society has chosen the lazy way out. Get rid of the afflictED instead of the afflictION. Rather than support a pregnant woman in her time of need, it abandons her and send the message "you're a drain on society. Take care of it, please."
And finally, the mother fails by submitting to the pressures of the people closest to her AND to the pressures of a society that says she never can succeed in life if she has a baby “now”. The defeatism is oppressive and very difficult to resist. It has been drilled into this generation's head for more than thirty years, and it has so far been successful in demeaning motherhood and "inconvenient" children.
Let me tell you, for 13 years, I avoided all biology books for fear of looking at embryology photos. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to know about how abortions are done. I didn’t want to know about fetal development. When I had my abortion, I thought my baby at 12 weeks was the size of a pea and looked like a little shrimp. I asked the abortionist how big my baby was, and he just said “it’s a blob of cells” and refused to answer my question. I was too naïve and scared to press the issue. I now know that a 12 week old fetus is about 2 1/2 inches long, from the top of her head to the tip of her butt, not including her legs which are folded up to her chest in the fetal position. To give an idea, this is about the size of a lime. She is discernably a tiny human being and is capable of feeling pain. She has fully functioning organs. Killing her requires dismemberment and crushing of her skull. The film "The Silent Scream" shows how she struggles to avoid the abortionist's instruments, and opens her mouth in a silent scream before her horrible death. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, deciding to know this information. But I now feel powerful and in charge of my own mind. I no longer want to hide, but to learn more and warn others.
The most freeing thing I’ve ever done happened about five months ago. I sat down at my computer and typed in “abortion” on Google. I started to read voraciously about anything I could find on abortion. I struggled for a few weeks with whether to look at photos of aborted fetuses. I wondered if it would make a difference except to make me feel even more guilty. But I realized that the only way I could get past my abortion and properly grieve was to see the real results of abortion, unedited, un-whitewashed.
It was more painful than I can describe.
I was a wreck for a month. I cried practically all day, every day. I cried myself to sleep. I had horrible dreams. But something happened to me over that time. I found peace with my baby and with God. Then, I became angry. I became angry at having been lied to; at having been thought to be too stupid to be told the facts and left to make my own decision based on them. I felt used. I felt duped. I felt dumb.
And then my anger turned to resolve…resolve that I would tell all who would listen about my experience…about what I have learned these past months through my research. I resolved to DO something about abortion. To help even one woman and one baby avoid the tragedy of the lie of abortionists.
So you see, this is how I have come to be here, writing to you, hopefully making a difference and shedding some light on this situation that millions of women are in at this very moment, all thanks to the “panacea” of abortion-on-demand.
I want women to know that they can ask me anything; specific scientific questions about abortion, the best resources on the net or otherwise, personal advice, whatever. Mothers who have been through abortion are part of a “sisterhood of tears” that this country would rather forget about. We have to stick together and close this club to new membership.
Thank you, Natasha, for your thoughtful questions and your interest in this subject.
God bless you,
Michelle
Dear Natasha,
Thank you so much for your questions and for your interest in these aspects of abortion. I will be able to send you a thorough response by the end of the day today (April 19th)
