Aside from killing a child, abortion carries life-long consequences. I am guilty of being too focused on the unborn and forgetting the scars a woman will carry as a result of abortion. In no way am I diminishing the loss of life as I believe that is the greatest harm caused by abortion. But the reality is that a woman will experience temporary and permanent side-effects due to her choice to kill her unborn child.

While pro-abortion groups try to downplay or downright refute studies linking abortion to mental and physical health issues, the body of evidence is growing larger each year. One recent study concludes that abortion carries a higher risk for mental health disorder than birth:

“[T]he psychiatric journal ‘Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences’ recently published a study linking abortion with depression and anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder. The study compared the women’s psychological well being with childbirth outcomes such as delivering the baby, miscarriage, or abortion. The conclusion of the authors is that ‘fetal loss seems to expose women to a higher risk for mental disorders than childbirth; some studies show that abortion can be considered a more relevant risk factor than miscarriage.’”

Another article, commenting on the same study says that the conclusion of the study merits further research into a post-abortion syndrome much like PTSD.

“Dr. Carlo V. Bellini and Guiseppe Buonocore analyzed 30 studies of post-abortive women published between 1995 and 2011 to find out whether the data supported a link between abortion and mental illness, especially depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD and substance abuse…The study also compared post-abortive women to women who had experienced miscarriages, and found that while ‘short-term anxiety and depression were higher in the miscarriage group … long-term anxiety and depression were present only in the abortion group.’”

This is further proof that abortion doesn’t just end a human life; abortion traumatizes a woman and causes, at times, permanent mental or physical harm. As the abortion industry continues to lie and say that abortion is safer than child-birth, and doesn’t cause any long-term side-effects, the mounting body of evidence against their deception campaign grows.

The Illuminate Campaign, which the Family Policy Council of West Virginia started to shed light on the unregulated abortion industry in our state, has been called political by WV Free, the Planned Parenthood affiliate in West Virginia. Margaret Chapman Pomponio, the executive director of WV Free recently told the West Virginia Gazette that “If this were about protecting women’s health, we would be behind it.”

I guess Ms. Pomponio believe it is safer, and better for women’s health to have an unregulated abortion industry than to enact common sense measures that will protect women. If seeking to protect women from the atrocities that took place at the hands of Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia and Rodney Lee Stephens in West Virginia is somehow political, I guess I’m guilty as charged. But it seems to me the real war on women is coming from those that want to leave the abortion industry unregulated, ensuring more women will be harmed.

Maybe I have too much common sense to understand liberal logic, but I cannot understand how anyone could oppose demanding that surgical abortion centers meet the same medical standards as any other surgical facility. And if a doctor is going to perform a medical procedure he or she should have admitting privileges at the nearest hospital should something go wrong.

And, if my tax dollars are going to be used to fund this facility then someone from the state should be inspecting the clinic to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations. Currently, none of those common sense measures are in place in West Virginia. In fact, no one from the state has stepped foot in the largest abortion clinic in West Virginia since the mid 70’s.

Other states are taking action to protect women and children. You can view this interactive map of legislation being passed in various states to ensure women are protected from an unregulated abortion industry. The common sense measures being passed don’t prevent a woman from seeking an abortion; they simply ensure she receives the highest quality medical care if she chooses abortion. Isn’t that what Planned Parenthood and WV Free keep saying they want? So why isn’t Ms. Pomponio getting behind our campaign?