Every Abortion Is an Act of Violence Which Kills a Child and Wounds a Woman and a Culture

When abortion advocates promote abortion, they speak of it as though it is good for women and society. However, they neglect to mention the downsides commonly associated with abortion. One of its greatest downsides is that it is an act of horrible and evil violence which always kills a child, wounds a woman and spreads a culture of death and use. 

P>KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - When abortion advocates promote abortion, they speak of it as though it is good for women and society. They frame their speech around misleading terms like "choice," "rights" and "healthcare." In addition, they often neglect to mention the downsides commonly associated with abortion. One of its greatest downsides is that it is an act of violence.

Many years ago, I found an interesting sidebar on abortion in the 1983 edition of Social Problems. It is a sociology textbook, and a good one, which, I believe, makes it unique. The authors are James M. Henslin and Donald W. Light, Jr. I would like to share some of the information I found in the sidebar with you because it describes the reality of abortion in a way that I will never forget.

It referenced a letter that Dr. Warren E. Hern wrote to Planned Parenthood as a result of his experience performing abortions. I believe the letter was dated in the 1980's. At the time, he had performed approximately 300 abortions. Presumably, many of these were Dilation and Evacuations (D&E). This procedure is also called a Dilation and Extraction. It goes by other names too. Regardless of the name people use, it is typically performed in the second trimester and involves the same basic steps. They are roughly as follows:

The first step involves dilation of the cervix and is followed by the second step, which is the surgical evacuation of "the contents of the uterus," that is, the child. The abortionist uses instruments to grasp the child. Then the abortionist uses the mother's cervix as a wedge in order to rip the child apart. He removes the dismembered body parts a piece at a time. When the abortionist arrives at the head, he crushes it. In order to determine if the abortion is complete, all the body parts must be accounted for. The final step, then, generally involves piecing the child back together on a table.

Based on Dr. Hern's letter, it appears he was acutely aware that performing these steps could result in severe psychological problems. He indicated that guilt could be a severe problem. In his letter to Planned Parenthood, he wrote, "This technique creates intense emotional responses in doctors, [and] sometimes leads to moral anguish and nightmares." His letter continued as follows:

"We have reached a point in this particular technology where there is no possibility of denial of an act of violence by the operators. It is before our eyes. The sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current. Some part of our cultural and perhaps even biological heritage recoils at the destructive operation on a form so similar to our own."

Yet, he continued performing abortions! In 2002, he even received the Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award from the National Abortion Federation for his achievements as an abortion provider. But I cannot help but wonder how he has dealt with the guilt he mentioned in his letter, or how others deal with such intense feelings of guilt.

I understand that intense feelings of guilt left unresolved over a long period of time are frequently associated with anger. I am talking about deep-seated, irrational anger--anger at the world and at oneself--followed by depression and various other destructive psychological behaviors.

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Of course, I have no idea how Dr. Hern or others have dealt with guilt, or if they even experienced it; but based on Dr. Hern's letter, I surmise that abortion providers and abortion advocates generally represent a violent and destructive element within our society. And as such, they are some of the last people who can tell us what is good for women or good for our society. 

As an afterthought, it appears that Dr. Hern may still be performing abortions to this day, at least he was a year ago. I say this because Abby Johnson mentioned him on her blog on December 4, 2011. Abby Johnson is the woman who worked for Planned Parenthood, quit after she witnessed an abortion, and went public with information about the organization. She wrote the popular book unPlanned. 

Her post is titled "Operation Conversion." She writes, Dr. Hern is considered one of the pioneers in the field of abortion. He performs abortions up to 36 weeks gestation. He currently works in the state of Colorado. Please commit with me to pray for Dr. Hern and cover him in prayer every day for 7 days. . . ." Although her post is over a year old, it would not hurt to continue praying for his conversion, and to pray for the conversion of our society from a culture of violence and death to a culture of life. 
 
Every procured abortion an act of horrible and evil violence which always kills a child, wounds a woman and spreads a culture of death and use.  
 
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Michael Terheyden was born into a Catholic family, but that is not why he is a Catholic. He is a Catholic because he believes that truth is real, that it is beautiful and good, and that the fullness of truth is in the Catholic Church. However, he knows that God's grace operating throughout his life is the main reason he is a Catholic. He is greatly blessed to share his faith and his life with his beautiful wife, Dorothy. They have four grown children and three grandchildren.

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