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Abortion Can Lead to Child Abuse, Has Increased Since Legalization
by Father Frank Pavone
November 24, 2004
IN OUR BAPTISMAL VOWS, we promise to renounce Satan, all his works, "and all his empty promises."
One of his empty promises in unleashing abortion upon our nation was that somehow the availability of this procedure would decrease the incidence of child abuse. The reasoning went something like this: if unwanted children are aborted, then only wanted children will be born, and since wanted children are less likely to be abused, then child abuse will decrease in a land of abortion on demand.
Yet it was an empty promise. Exactly the opposite has happened. Since the legalization of abortion, child abuse has increased.
The promise had a fatal flaw in it, namely, the assumption that unwanted children are more likely to be abused. As E.F. Lenoski reported as early as 1976, the opposite is actually true. Abuse is more likely to occur among "wanted" children.
Canadian psychiatrist Philip Ney reports the same findings.
He writes, "When I investigated the relationship between child abuse and abortion and reported a direct correlation, people were angry and astonished. It appeared that the rate of child abuse did not decrease with freely available abortions. In fact, the opposite was true. In parts of Canada where there were low rates of abortion there were low rates of child abuse. As the rates of abortion increased, so did child abuse...Indeed, it is a vicious cycle. That is, parents who have been involved in abortion are more likely to abuse and neglect their children. Mothers and fathers who were abused as children are more likely to abort their child" (Deeply Damaged, p.91).
The first thing that has to be noted when examining the relationship between abortion and child abuse is that abortion is child abuse. Dismembering a born child would certainly be considered among the worst possible forms of abuse.
Medical textbooks and court testimonies use the very same word, "dismemberment," to describe what is done to an unborn child by abortion. How, then, is this not child abuse?
Allowing the abuse of an unborn child, then, creates an atmosphere in which -- more quietly and secretly -- we justify the abuse of born children. The child
becomes the scapegoat for our unresolved conflicts. As the Israelites in the Old Testament placed their sins upon the goat, who was then led out into the desert, we allow the child, particularly when still in the womb, to suffer for our sins
The two forms of child abuse -- on the unborn (abortion) and on the born -- reinforce each other by a mutual causality. Abortion results in more postpartum depression, which inhibits bonding with subsequent children. Conversely, the wounds of abuse are echoed in the essentially self-destructive act of abortion later in life.
In subsequent columns we will examine these connections more fully. It should be noted that we are talking here about psychological dynamics and statistical correlation, and that does not mean that every woman who has had an abortion will be a poor mother.
There is a significant statistical association between child abuse and abortion - a mutual relationship, whereby having an abortion makes the abuse of subsequent children more likely, and being abused as a child makes having an abortion later in life more likely.
Obviously, and first of all, abortion itself is the worst form of child abuse. Secondly, it should be noted that we are talking about statistical associations. These connections do not mean that everyone who has an abortion will abuse her children, or that everyone who is abused will have an abortion.
Having said that, let's examine why having an abortion may lead to more child abuse.
First of all, every pregnancy is a "crisis" in the best sense of the term. Pregnancy creates unique demands and challenges to the mother to mature; the body, the mind, and the spirit must grow in order to accommodate to the child. This "crisis of incorporation," as psychologists call it, puts the mother at a crossroads: either she accepts the changes required of her by the pregnancy, or she aborts the child, hence choosing to regress rather than mature.
The choice not to mature, but rather to remain selfish, makes it more likely that the mother will remain a less mature parent, and this immaturity is a key cause of abuse and neglect of other children.
A second problem is that fathers have no legal right to save their unborn child from an abortion. Not knowing if the child will live or die creates an ambivalence in the father, and a reluctance to bond to the child. Unattached to their baby, they show less support to their partner as well. After an abortion, the alienation worsens. Some studies show as high as an 80% rate of breakup of relationships after abortion. The mother's anger at the lack of support from the baby's father can be displaced to a born child.
A third reason why abortion can lead to child abuse is related to bonding. Having an abortion makes it more difficult to bond to a subsequent child, and babies who are not well bonded are more likely to be abused and neglected. A pregnancy following abortion creates more anxiety, caused in part by a fatalistic sense that the child will be abnormal (as a punishment for having aborted the previous one.) This anxiety can interfere with bonding.
Moreover, if the grief from the abortion is not adequately processed, it becomes a post- partum depression, which interferes with bonding. When one is still grieving a lost baby, one cannot attach to a new baby, because the attachment is still to the one who died. Failure to attach to the one who is alive can lead to abuse and neglect.
There can also be a sense of disappointment in the subsequent child, who is compared to the aborted baby who is often idealized in the mother's mind. Expectations of the new child, sometimes viewed as a "replacement baby," are not fulfilled, resulting in anger that can lead to abuse and neglect.
by Father Frank Pavone
November 24, 2004
IN OUR BAPTISMAL VOWS, we promise to renounce Satan, all his works, "and all his empty promises."
One of his empty promises in unleashing abortion upon our nation was that somehow the availability of this procedure would decrease the incidence of child abuse. The reasoning went something like this: if unwanted children are aborted, then only wanted children will be born, and since wanted children are less likely to be abused, then child abuse will decrease in a land of abortion on demand.
Yet it was an empty promise. Exactly the opposite has happened. Since the legalization of abortion, child abuse has increased.
The promise had a fatal flaw in it, namely, the assumption that unwanted children are more likely to be abused. As E.F. Lenoski reported as early as 1976, the opposite is actually true. Abuse is more likely to occur among "wanted" children.
Canadian psychiatrist Philip Ney reports the same findings.
He writes, "When I investigated the relationship between child abuse and abortion and reported a direct correlation, people were angry and astonished. It appeared that the rate of child abuse did not decrease with freely available abortions. In fact, the opposite was true. In parts of Canada where there were low rates of abortion there were low rates of child abuse. As the rates of abortion increased, so did child abuse...Indeed, it is a vicious cycle. That is, parents who have been involved in abortion are more likely to abuse and neglect their children. Mothers and fathers who were abused as children are more likely to abort their child" (Deeply Damaged, p.91).
The first thing that has to be noted when examining the relationship between abortion and child abuse is that abortion is child abuse. Dismembering a born child would certainly be considered among the worst possible forms of abuse.
Medical textbooks and court testimonies use the very same word, "dismemberment," to describe what is done to an unborn child by abortion. How, then, is this not child abuse?
Allowing the abuse of an unborn child, then, creates an atmosphere in which -- more quietly and secretly -- we justify the abuse of born children. The child
becomes the scapegoat for our unresolved conflicts. As the Israelites in the Old Testament placed their sins upon the goat, who was then led out into the desert, we allow the child, particularly when still in the womb, to suffer for our sins
The two forms of child abuse -- on the unborn (abortion) and on the born -- reinforce each other by a mutual causality. Abortion results in more postpartum depression, which inhibits bonding with subsequent children. Conversely, the wounds of abuse are echoed in the essentially self-destructive act of abortion later in life.
In subsequent columns we will examine these connections more fully. It should be noted that we are talking here about psychological dynamics and statistical correlation, and that does not mean that every woman who has had an abortion will be a poor mother.
There is a significant statistical association between child abuse and abortion - a mutual relationship, whereby having an abortion makes the abuse of subsequent children more likely, and being abused as a child makes having an abortion later in life more likely.
Obviously, and first of all, abortion itself is the worst form of child abuse. Secondly, it should be noted that we are talking about statistical associations. These connections do not mean that everyone who has an abortion will abuse her children, or that everyone who is abused will have an abortion.
Having said that, let's examine why having an abortion may lead to more child abuse.
First of all, every pregnancy is a "crisis" in the best sense of the term. Pregnancy creates unique demands and challenges to the mother to mature; the body, the mind, and the spirit must grow in order to accommodate to the child. This "crisis of incorporation," as psychologists call it, puts the mother at a crossroads: either she accepts the changes required of her by the pregnancy, or she aborts the child, hence choosing to regress rather than mature.
The choice not to mature, but rather to remain selfish, makes it more likely that the mother will remain a less mature parent, and this immaturity is a key cause of abuse and neglect of other children.
A second problem is that fathers have no legal right to save their unborn child from an abortion. Not knowing if the child will live or die creates an ambivalence in the father, and a reluctance to bond to the child. Unattached to their baby, they show less support to their partner as well. After an abortion, the alienation worsens. Some studies show as high as an 80% rate of breakup of relationships after abortion. The mother's anger at the lack of support from the baby's father can be displaced to a born child.
A third reason why abortion can lead to child abuse is related to bonding. Having an abortion makes it more difficult to bond to a subsequent child, and babies who are not well bonded are more likely to be abused and neglected. A pregnancy following abortion creates more anxiety, caused in part by a fatalistic sense that the child will be abnormal (as a punishment for having aborted the previous one.) This anxiety can interfere with bonding.
Moreover, if the grief from the abortion is not adequately processed, it becomes a post- partum depression, which interferes with bonding. When one is still grieving a lost baby, one cannot attach to a new baby, because the attachment is still to the one who died. Failure to attach to the one who is alive can lead to abuse and neglect.
There can also be a sense of disappointment in the subsequent child, who is compared to the aborted baby who is often idealized in the mother's mind. Expectations of the new child, sometimes viewed as a "replacement baby," are not fulfilled, resulting in anger that can lead to abuse and neglect.
