An article in the Sacramento News Review entitled “Inside the Abortion Clinic” gives insights into the emotional struggles women endure in abortion facilities. The article features women who were ambivalent about having abortions, right up until the last moment.
The abortion facility profiled in the article commits abortions up to 24 weeks. It does 2,000 to 3,000 first trimester and 500 to 800 second trimester abortions each year. Signs in the abortion facility’s waiting room tell women not to discuss past abortions with one another. The abortion workers do not want women talking among themselves about abortions they previously had; maybe they don’t want women remembering how painful and difficult these past abortions were.
The article says, “The staff claims to have seen women scream, cry and loudly repent their decisions to abort.”
The author describes one woman who was having a late-term abortion as:
a mild-mannered IV drug user with hepatitis and an abusive boyfriend. She’d gone through counseling at the clinic early in her pregnancy and was so conflicted that she repeatedly canceled appointments and didn’t show up for the procedure until she was 18 weeks along. [….] her decision to abort was difficult […]
Although this woman obviously had many problems, she was unsure about aborting her baby. She does go through with the abortion, but the fact that she canceled so many times indicates that she was in no way comfortable with her decision. The abortion facility takes her money, aborts her baby, and sends her back to her abusive boyfriend and drug addiction. A crisis pregnancy center would have worked with her and tried to help her find treatment and a safe place away from the abuse.
A 17-year-old named Leslie, having an abortion at 23 weeks, was also unsure. When asked by the abortion workers why she did not tell her parents about her pregnancy, the article states:
‘I didn’t know how they’d respond,’ said Leslie, explaining why she kept her pregnancy secret. She is still not sure why she took 23 weeks to make her decision, but her youth finally convinced her to abort. ‘I can’t take care of it,’ she said. ‘I’m still in high school. Some [friends] told me to keep it, but …’ Her voice trailed off.
Like the previous woman, Leslie went through with the abortion. Her healthy 23-week-old baby is dismembered and Leslie is sent home to her unsuspecting parents. A late-term abortion is explained by former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino in the video below:
The author also relates the following conversation between abortion worker Laura and pregnant patient Angela:
‘Are you sure about your decision?’ Laura asked Angela, a tired-looking blonde in a blue, velvet tracksuit.
Angela laughed in a guarded way. ‘Pretty much,’ she said. ‘We were sitting in the waiting room, going, “We can still go.”‘
Laura looked concerned. ‘I want you to be 100 percent sure of your decision,’ she said.
Angela nodded. ‘I’ve done it before.’
In this case, the abortion worker was concerned about whether the pregnant woman was sure about having the abortion. However, Live Action has covered numerous cases in which abortion workers showed no concern for whether the woman truly wanted to abort. There have been many instances when abortion counselors have pressured ambivalent women into having abortions. This abortion facility may be an exception, or Laura’s words may have been for the benefit of the reporter. Either way, the reporter says:
Occasionally, counseling sessions lead women to change their minds. That same day, a patient said all the right things during a session but then confided second thoughts to another counselor and was sent home. Laura had a hard time estimating how often that happens. She threw out some numbers tentatively. ‘Maybe 30 percent are kind of talking through doubts,’ she said. ‘Maybe 5 percent go away.’
READ: Abortion patient: Planned Parenthood’s counseling consisted of ‘five terse questions’
Other sources have confirmed that some women who walk into abortion facilities have not yet made up their minds. In one survey, 40 to 60% of post-abortive women said that they had not made up their minds when they arrived at the facility for an abortion. 44% stated that they were hoping to find another alternative during counseling.
Holly O’Donnell, an ex-tissue procurement specialist who worked inside a Planned Parenthood facility, was quoted in a Center for Medical Progress video saying:
Some of these women don’t know if they are going to get an abortion. Some aren’t 100% sure that they are going to get it done.
Infamous late-term abortionist Dr. Warren Hern had the following exchange in an interview:
Q: Do your [abortion] patients ever reconsider?
Hern: Between our two centers, that happens maybe once a week. There’s a patient who changes her mind or becomes truly ambivalent and goes home to reconsider, then might come back a week or two later.
And sidewalk counselors have told of cases in which abortion-minded women have changed their minds after talking to pro-lifers.
Not all women who come to abortion facilities are certain they want abortions. In many cases, sidewalk counselors can still reach them. It is possible to save lives at an abortion facility. Sometimes the sidewalk counselor is the only person who encourages a woman to have her baby. Articles like this one demonstrate that lives can be saved and women can be helped by sidewalk counselors.
The women profiled in this article all had abortions and were sent home to cope with the aftermath. Even though they were unsure, they went through with an irrevocable act that permanently ended their children’s lives. Post-abortive women have higher rates of suicide, depression, psychiatric hospitalizations, substance abuse, and other mental health problems. Some experts have suggested that ambivalence before an abortion is a risk factor for these outcomes.
