Abortion is fast and painless. A clean break. An easy way out. No one will ever have to know of my pregnancy.

Some women facing an unplanned pregnancy and considering abortion believe the statement above to be true.

The reality is abortion isn’t easy and it is far from painless.

Nearly all women who choose abortion or adoption for their babies will experience the grief and loss process. However, there is one major difference between the two processes.

With adoption, a woman must work through the grief of not being able to raise her baby at that point in her life. But as time passes, and with the help of adoption counseling, it is likely that the woman will reach the acceptance stage of the grief and loss process. She will accept the fact that even though she was unable to parent her child and may still experience times of sadness, her child is alive, happy and is being raised by a great family.

With abortion, the acceptance stage can be more difficult to reach. While the woman who chooses adoption can envision the smile on her child’s face that she sees through pictures or reads about in letters, the woman who chooses abortion is unable to envision her child’s face at all.

Women who have difficulty finding this acceptance can experience postpartum depression or post-abortion stress syndrome (PASS). PASS can last for several years, sometimes longer, and may manifest itself in symptoms such as anxiety, depression, flashbacks and even suicidal thoughts in extreme cases.

While choosing abortion or adoption are both difficult choices, some women think abortion will be the easiest and quickest solution to their unplanned pregnancy. One reason they don’t ever consider adoption is simply because they don’t understand how today’s adoptions work.

Today’s adoptions are much different from those in the past and those portrayed in the media. Now, the birth mother is in control of her adoption plan and chooses the adoptive family who will raise her child. She will receive pictures and letters and may even maintain a relationship with the family and child, if she chooses.

There is always an adoptive family seeking a similar relationship as the pregnant woman.

By choosing adoption, the woman gives life to her baby, gives an infertile couple a chance at becoming parents and gives herself a better chance of emotionally overcoming her unplanned pregnancy.

Whether you are considering abortion or adoption, contact American Adoptions for help with you decision.

Abortion Statistics from 2007:

• 810,582 abortions were reported in the United States. This does not include the abortions that went unreported.
• On average, women cited three reasons for choosing abortion:
• 75 percent said having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities.
• 75 percent said they cannot afford a child.
• 50 percent said they don’t want to raise a child as a single parent or they are having problems with their husband or partner.
• On average, women cited three reasons for choosing abortion:
• 231 abortions were performed per every 1,000 live births.
• 16 abortions were performed per every 1,000 women aged 14-55 years.
• Women aged 20-29 accounted for 56.9 percent of all abortions.
• Women aged 15-19 accounted for 16.5 percent of all abortions.
• The number of reported abortions decreased by 2 percent from 2006.
• 62.3 percent of abortions were performed at 8 weeks’ gestation or earlier.
• 91.5 percent of abortions were performed at 13 weeks’ gestation or earlier.
• 8.3 percent of abortions were performed at 14 weeks’ gestation or later.

Abortion statistics provided by:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6001a1.htm

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html