Congressman Joe Pitts, R-Pa., used a hearing on postpartum depression to highlight the pain some women feel after having an abortion. His Post-Abortion Depression Research bill has been blocked by liberal leadership in the House, but on Tuesday, Pitts forced some of them to face a crude reality they desperately want to bury.
Colorado Congresswoman Dianna DeGette, a Democrat, could hardly restrain her fury in a futile effort to silence Pitts. But she couldn’t stop Michaelene Fredenburg from sharing her heartrending story.
“I was completely unprepared for the emotional fallout after the abortion,” she testified. “I thought that the abortion would erase my pregnancy. I thought I could move on with my life, but I wasn’t able to.”
Fredenburg told how she alternated between anger and sadness, how she developed an eating disorder and then began having suicidal thoughts. She finally realized she was experiencing a debilitating case of post-abortion trauma.
DeGette remained unconvinced.
“This so-called post-abortion syndrome is recognized by none of the established professional medical associations,” DeGette testified.
Georgette Forney of Silent No More said the reason for that has nothing to do with the validity of the condition. Studies have been denied publication in leading journals, and medical professionals who lean pro-abortion continue to sweep any suggestion of the trauma under the rug.
“There’s a precedent that’s been set already that we can deny something for a period of time when it’s politically correct to,” Forney told Family News in Focus.
A recent study out of New Zealand found that almost 80 percent of 15- to 18-year-old girls who have abortions display symptoms of major depression.
Pitts’ bill calls for, among other things, $15 million for the National Institutes of Health to research post-abortion trauma. The measure was introduced March 9 and is sitting in committee.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
