‘It was a mass production line:’ Women tell stories of bad abortion facilities

Pro-abortion activists claim that those who work at abortion facilities are good medical professionals who want to help women. The pro-abortion narrative is that abortion facilities are well-run. Health regulations, we are told, are unnecessary. However, stories from post-abortive women reveal that many abortion facilities operate more like abortion assembly lines than healthcare providers.

One woman, whose story appears on the Clinicquotes website, compares her abortion to rape:

Another woman, who had two abortions, each at a different clinic, says:

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Another woman remarks on the “callous” attitude of the staff:

One abortion facility’s website advertises “supportive, compassionate, expert care provided by highly trained professionals.” But a patient of Cesare Santangelo, who is an abortionist at the facility, gave the following review of his facility:

Santangelo was recorded by Live Action in 2012 telling a woman that if her baby survived an abortion in his clinic, “we would not help it:”

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Another abortion patient quoted on Clinicquotes says:

Another woman said the clinic was like a “cattle drive:”

Another former abortion patient left a review for the crisis pregnancy center First Resort. She wishes that a crisis pregnancy center had been there to help her avoid her terrible abortion experience:

Author Eve Kushner shared the following accounts in her book “Experiencing Abortion: a Weaving of Women’s Words:”

The same book told the story of a woman named Vivian:

Pro-life author Melinda Tankard Reist collected many testimonies from women who had terrible experiences at abortion facilities. An excerpt from one of those testimonies reads:

Author Jane Brennan, in her book “Motherhood Interrupted: Stories of Healing and Hope after Abortion,” published the testimony of one woman who had an abortion at Planned Parenthood:

An amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, contains the stories of 3,348 women who had terrible experiences inside abortion clinics. Here are three:

• B.: Everything was very rushed, cold and impersonal. It was more a matter of sign here and go sit down and wait until we call your name. Nothing whatsoever was mentioned about any consequences, physical, mental or emotional. . . . It was absolutely the very worst ‘choice’ I have ever made in my 55 years of life.

• H.: No. They didn’t tell me there were different types of abortions or what was done in the different types. . . . There was no talk of the emotional side effects or possible physical side effects. It felt like being herded through like cattle. They lined us all up, handed us pills, and then herded us through a door one after the other. Then when they started the procedure and I told them to stop. They said it was too late and continued anyway while I passed out. I was placed in a chair, unconscious and left there to wake up alone. They would not allow my husband to come into the back to sit with me while I waited or be with me when I woke up. It was an absolutely horrible experience that left me shaken, hurt, and emotionally damaged.

• M.: No. It was explained as ending a pregnancy, that the fetus was just a blob of cells, it was minimized for sure. There was never any counseling or mention of the emotional or possible physical harm it could cause. I was rushed and it was obvious they weren’t interested in me but in getting as many abortions done as fast as possible. I ended up hemorrhaging after the abortion and they told me that they “thought” the doctor gave me a blood thinning rather than a blood clotting medication. I have no idea the cause. It was very frightening that is for sure.

These are only a tiny fraction of the thousands of stories from women who were treated badly in abortion facilities. It’s clear that many abortion facilities have one purpose and one purpose alone — to make as much money as possible by pushing as many women as possible through the clinic.

1. Eve Kushner Experiencing Abortion: a Weaving of Women’s Words (Binghamton, New York: The Haworth Press, 1997) 46

2. Ibid. 310-311

3. Melinda Tankard Reist Giving Sorrow Words: Women’s Stories of Grief after Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007) 31 – 32

4. Jackie Bullard “Yes, There Is Life after Death…” Will Jane Brennan, ed. Motherhood Interrupted: Stories of Healing and Hope after Abortion (Xlibris Corporation, 2008) 72–73