Tragic: Australian actress commits suicide after years of depression following abortion

Charlotte Dawson, a model and TV star who achieved fame in Australia, tragically committed suicide earlier this month after a long battle with depression, which was first triggered by her 1999 abortion experience. Dawson said “it was decided” that she should abort her first child with Olympic swimmer husband Scott Miller because her due date coincided with the 2000 summer Olympics and Miller was so focused on his own pursuits that a child was not welcome in the picture at the time. Dawson says they planned to try to have children later, but the marriage ended shortly thereafter and she ultimately died without living children. 

The Telegraph reports:

In her tell-all autobiography Air Kiss And Tell, she revealed she had an abortion because the pregnancy would interfere with Miller’s preparation for the 2000 Olympics – and blamed that for the start of her long battle with depression.

According to the Daily Mail:

‘Everything Scott had done was leading up to this moment and nothing could stand in his way, so it was decided that we would terminate the child and try again later. Who needed a developing fetus when a gold medal was on offer, eh?’ The day Charlotte went to have the termination she said she plunged into complete ‘turmoil’. Miller had accompanied her to the hospital, but at the last minute left because he ‘couldn’t cope with the atmosphere’. Distraught, she went through the whole ordeal on her own.

‘I felt a shift,’ she said. ‘Maybe it was hormonal, but I felt the early tinges of what I can now identify as my first experience with depression.’ Dawson was found dead just one day after Miller’s 39th birthday.

Jill Stanek chronicles US media’s shameful silence regarding the trigger of Charlotte’s depression (the abortion), conspicuously omitting the detail whilst British and Australian outlets consistently report it:

Abortion proponents push for easy access to abortion, deemphasizing its after-affects to the point they absolutely refuse to acknowledge post-abortion depression, which further incapacitates those actually living through it.

In fact, a Google search for “post abortion syndrome” first gleans results from the National Abortion Federation claiming that the syndrome is a “myth,” which compounds the tragedy for women who are silently suffering from it. According to Ramah International, Post Abortion Stress Syndrome is a form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (what soldiers returning from combat often experience as they try to reenter civilian society):

Post-Abortion syndrome is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The process of making an abortion choice, experiencing the procedure and living with the grief, pain and regret is certainly, at its very core, traumatic. As with any trauma, individuals often try to “forget” the ordeal and deny or ignore any pain that may result. Many simply don’t relate their distress to the abortion experience. At some point, however, memories resurface and the truth of this loss can no longer be denied. During these moments, the pain of post-abortion syndrome reveals itself in the hearts of millions of lives.

PASS rears its head in many ways, causing varied symptoms in different women. If you or someone you love is suffering from what may be Post Abortion Stress Syndrome, help is available. Click here to find resources by location, or visit the Rachel’s Vineyard website, where you can sign up for a healing retreat in your area, or even speak to an expert about what you’re going through.