The Healing Process...
Post-Abortion Stress (PAS) results from the unresolved grief and trauma caused by abortion. At the Abel Center you will find peer counselors who are willing to come along side of you as you begin to face the pain of your past.
One of the tools we use, in addition to one on one lay counseling to help women grieve and heal after an abortion,
is a Save One abortion-recovery group Bible study
The following was written by Linda Cochrane, herself post abortive.
She writes from her own experience and the experiences of many other post-abortive women she has known.
She says that …
“Relief is the first stage of grieving after an abortion. In this stage a woman may think, Thank God, I’m not pregnant anymore. All The uncertainty of the previous weeks are now over and I feel relieved.”
“After a short time, the initial feelings of relief wear off, and when her mind goes back to the actual experience, denial begins. It is difficult to cope with the memories of the abortion experience. The woman tries to deny that the abortion killed her child. She may think, No, I wouldn’t murder a baby. I just terminated a pregnancy, or it wasn’t really a baby at that stage, it was a blob of tissue”
“Moving out of denial usually happens over a period of years and is a different process for each individual. For some women denial ends when they see pictures of fetal development…Other women confront their loss when they carry a wanted pregnancy… Many women come to see the truth of their actions when they stop running from God and begin to seek Him with all their heart.”
“Once out of denial, many women become angry. These women finally realize that they cannot change their past not can they change others. They can, however, change their response to their hurt and anger. Women can then choose to forgive unconditionally and make room in their lives for love.”
“Another stage of grieving my be depression… It is in this stage that harmful behavior such as excessive drug and alcohol use or suicidal tendencies are seen. Some women experience and unconscious need to punish themselves…Through these behaviors women attempt to ease their pain of guilt but fail to do so.”
“The final stage of grieving is acceptance…At this point women have forgiven those who hurt them and have accepted God’s forgiveness…They have a deeper understanding of God’s plan for their lives and see how this painful process of grieving fits into His plan.
|
