For those who have had an abortion in the past, how many have dealt with the following in relation to your abortion experience? (Please identify all areas that apply to you):

_x_Substance abuse/addiction (either drugs or alcohol or both)

_x__Eating Disorders (Bulimia or anorexia)

___Cutting

_x__Food addiction

___Failure to seek medical attention

___Other forms of self-abuse (please explain)

_x__Clinical Depression

_x__Thoughts of suicide

___Suicide attempt(s)

_x__Frequent rage

___Abusive relationships

___Deterioration of relationships (divorce, inability to bond with children or grandchildren)

___Promiscuity

___Abuse of others

Please also note if you are currently a Christian or not and if you were a Christian at the time of your abortion.__I attended a Christian Church at the time of my abortion but I did not know Jesus in a personal way...to me He was just a story_______________

Please also specify if you (a) attended church during your childhood; (b) attended church at the time of your abortion; (c) attend church now. _a,b,c___

And finally, are you struggling with any of these issues currently (including the past year)? Explain. __I struggled many years with these issues and more but after finding SafeHaven, going through the Forgiven and Set Free Abortion Recovery Bible Study at my local Pregnancy Care Center and coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior ...I learned to forgive myself just as Jesus did...it was a long process to learn to walk in that forgiveness but the Joy I have found is so worth the walk! I would like to encourage anyone reading this to go to Jesus if you need to know forgiveness and healing...email me or mary if you need help in finding Him...I will gladly share with you:) xoxo anita

Hey I decided that this poll was not a good judge of things because it didn't have any way of seeing if these things happened for other reasons or if they were present before the abortion occurred. Some questions that I would think would have to be included to help analyze a poll like this would be questions like:

Is there alcoholism in your family? mental illness on either side? did you have symptoms of depression before your preg.? Were you in an abusive relationship at the time of your preg.? Were you addicted at the time of your preg.? Did you have a strong bond with your family before you became preg.?

See that way you could see if the abortion changed where the person was or only exacerbated a situation that they were already in, or had no change at all. You might also find out if their was a family history such as did your mother have an abortion? See that would help you define the trend even more.

The poll that you have is kind of like saying to a guy "hey so did you beat your wife before or after she dropped the milk".

BTW after giving a lot of thought to proabortion or proreproductive rights thing a couple of weeks ago... I think I'm leaning less towards proreproductive rights. I mean I really think that we have to control our pop. I'm not for people just going out and having baby after baby after baby. That doesn't mean that I would want laws about that either but I certainly don't mind the social pressure to not have that going on. Especially when you can't afford to give them quality care... and you know what I mean... you donna have to be rich but darnit atleast be able to feed your kids and keep them clean, clothed, and time enough to show them you love them.

Hello ladies....Thanks for your honesty and vulnerability, Anita, and thank you, achromic, for your comments.

If you will notice, achromic, the line immediately before the checklist states the following: For those who have had an abortion in the past, how many have dealt with the following in relation to your abortion experience? The key part of that sentence is "in relation to your abortion experience." I realize we cannot completely compartmentalize our lives and exclusively attribute such dramatic activities without regard to other high impact events, however I believe it is possible to determine if these factors were present before the abortion experience or if they only began afterward. Again, this was not meant to be a scientific poll, but more of an opportunity for us to examine ourselves and to share this information with others within the safety of this forum for the benefit of all who may visit this newsletter.

I think I can say with some certainty that none of the statistics regarding the abortion issue are 100% accurate, if for no other reason than many women are reluctant to be completely forthright with such personal information. Likewise, because of this inaccuracy (and reluctance), I believe too many people within "the church" think the horror of abortion has not and does not have much affect on those within the church....Something I consider to be a great disservice to those who are suffering silently with post-abortion stress issues.

Again, thanks for your thoughts and comments. I hope you will visit regularly and continue to keep me on my toes. ;)

Mary (mac)