Post abortion depression and suicide

During the recent parliamentary debate in Ireland that lead to the introduction of abortion and despite scholarly research based evidence to the contrary, the Irish Government decided that suicide ideation was grounds for abortion.

Expert psychiatric witnesses explained that in many years of professional practice they had never found this to be the case. On the contrary their evidence pointed to the fact that post-abortive women had a propensity to self-harm that sometimes ended in suicide.

Two high profile cases of suicide broke this week this week and the reports in both cases referenced abortion as having been a major factor in the subsequent depression that tragically ultimately led to suicide.

The first tragic suicide was that of an Australian model and TV star Charlotte Dawson, after a long battle with depression, originally triggered by an abortion back in 1999. According to news stories Dawson it was decided that she should abort her first child with Olympic swimmer husband Scott Miller because her due date coincided with the 2000 summer Olympics and Miller was so focused on his own pursuits that a child was not welcome in the picture at the time. Dawson says they planned to try to have children later, but the marriage broke up shortly afterwards and she ultimately died without living children.

The Daily Telegraph reported:

‘But friends believe she had never really gotten over her marriage to Miller, which ended in divorce after only a year. In her tell-all autobiography Air Kiss And Tell, she revealed she had an abortion because the pregnancy would interfere with Miller’s preparation for the 2000 Olympics — and blamed that for the start of her long battle with depression.’

The second case reported in the Daily Mail relates to an Oxford student who committed suicide following the break up of her relationship with her boyfriend. The report however cites the torment she suffered following an abortion

Oxford student Charlotte Coursier committed suicide six hours after her boyfriend ended their relationship

A 'talented and gifted' Oxford University student hanged herself after her boyfriend of 11 months ended their relationship.

Charlotte Coursier was struggling to cope with a 'campaign of harassment' inflicted on her by a college lecturer, as well as the torment of having aborted a pregnancy.

An inquest heard how Miss Coursier was found dead at home by her housemates in June last year.

The incidence of increased mental health problems associated with abortion is well documented and can be found in the Fergusson Study (2006) and the Coleman Meta-Analysis (2011). Sadly this is denied for both ideological and financial reasons by the abortion industry

The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists AAPLOG report that compared with birth abortion has a 600% increased risk of suicide and the timing very often corresponds to anniversary grief.

AAPLOG cite the Gissler Record Link (1997) that found that the risk of suicide after birth was half that of the general population but that the risk of suicide following an abortion was 600% greater than following a birth.

40 days for life 2014 Dublin

For the 4th year in a row a '40 days for Life' campaign will take place in Dublin during Lent, commencing on Ash Wednesday, 5th march and continuing until Easter Sunday, feast of the Resurrection.

The campaign began in the US but is now a worldwide initiative, taking place in 21 countries. Everybody can take part.

The three essential elements are prayer, fasting and public witness outside an abortion referral agency.

Since the year 2010 many people in Ireland have offered their Lenten fast for the success of the campaign.

For the campaign to be a success it is essential for several people to be present as often as possible outside the agency during business hours. Even if you have never done this work before, you are welcome. You don't need any experience just to stand and pray.

Contact numbers and e-mail address for Gianna Care:

Carolyn 087-6729393, Paul 087-9253483, Maura 087-9842365

info@giannacare.ie

New Important Initiative on the Family:

New Important initiative on the family: leaders throughout history have proclaimed it, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares it, and constitutions across the world affirm it: The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and must be protected.

Never has the family stood in more urgent need of protection as it now faces its moment of greatest peril, a crisis that is eroding society and jeopardizing civilization. The solution has been known since antiquity. To put the world in order, we must first put in order the family.

Please sign, encourage others to sign, and disseminate the World Family Declaration as widely as possible—and then do everything possible to strengthen and protect the family. What we now do, or fail to do, will shape our world for generations to come.

The text of the declaration is set out below and there is also a link to the website to view the text with its footnotes and to sign the declaration.

World Family Declaration

We the people of many lands and cultures reaffirm the truth enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and echoed in international treaties and many of our national constitutions, that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” Hence the family exists prior to the state and possesses inherent dignity and rights which states are morally bound to respect and protect.

We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key to development, prosperity, and peace.

The family is also the fountain and cradle of new life, the natural refuge for children, and the first and foremost school to teach the values necessary for the well-being of children and society. The family truly is our link to the past and bridge to the future.

Children are our future, and we gratefully acknowledge the selfless service rendered by parents, grandparents, guardians, and other caregivers who provide opportunities, as prescribed in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, for children “to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.”

Recognizing that, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance,” and, as stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, every child should, “wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his [or her] parents,” we declare that a functional, nurturing family founded on marriage between a man and a woman provides the surest safeguard of the special care and assistance to which children are entitled.

Gravely concerned by the escalating calamities afflicting children and society due to the rapid decline of marriage and family, we recall the sobering observation that “throughout history, nations have been able to survive a multiplicity of disasters— invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions— but they have never been able to survive the disintegration of the family.” We affirm the ancient wisdom that the world cannot be put in order without first putting in order the family.

We call for a culture that honors and enables faithful, fulfilling, and resilient marriages; that recognizes and protects the uniquely valuable contributions of both mothers and fathers to the lives of their children; and that encourages the values and vision necessary for young people to look forward to and prepare for successful marriage and parenting.

We call upon officials and policymakers, internationally, nationally, and at all levels of government, to immediately establish policies and implement measures to preserve and strengthen marriage and family.

We urge citizens, leaders, and people of influence everywhere to place as their highest priority the protection and strengthening of the family as the irreplaceable foundation of civilization and our only hope for prosperity, peace, and progress.

LINK TO WEBSITE

Every Life Matters Conference Stormont

A conference with the title ‘Every Life Matters’ took place on Monday February 24^th. in Belfast. The conference which was held the Long Gallery in Stormont was an initiative of the all party pro-life committee in Northern Ireland’s Assembly and was sponsored by Pat Ramsey MLA and JIM Wells MLA.

The conference was opened by Pat Ramsey who told the meeting that the all party committee had been in existence for 10 years and that the issues being dealt with would serve to inform parliamentarians for future discussion on the abortion issue.

The meeting was shown videos dealing with the loss of babies lives due to fatal abnormalities  and was addressed by three parents who  experienced tragic losses, Cliona Johnson from Dublin, Ryan Gamble and Derbhille McGill from Northern Ireland. 

Cliona Johnson’s baby boy John Paul who had been diagnosed with anencephaly lived for 17 minutes after birth surrounded by his family and those who loved him. He was theirs for a time only and his short life, both in the womb and after birth, was celebrated by his family. John Paul’s mother Cliona spoke about the precious moments with him and the love he brought to everyone in the family.

Ryan Gamble spoke about the three days spent with his son Rory. ‘The three days we had with our son Rory completely changed our lives forever’ Ryan told the meeting. Ryan then explained that Rory had not moved a muscle for the three days of his life but just before he died he reached out his hand towards his dad. Rory’s short life has touched people all over the world and Ryan has now formed a Charity in his memory called tennis ministries.

Derbhille McGill shared the moving story of her little baby daughter - Clodagh - who was diagnosed in the womb with having a fatal disability, Trisomy 13, and was told her baby would die before, or soon after birth. Little Clodagh lived for 33 days and was a great blessing to her family during her short life.

One of the significant issues evident from the three testimonies was the different levels of care in the different institutions and the importance of establishing properly constituted peri-natal hospice care 

What's in a Name.

I note that the Irish Times has finally admitted what many pro-lifers have known for some time they will not use the term ‘pro-life,’ except when they are actually quoting someone who has used the expression, instead they will use the description ‘anti abortion’. Clearly the idea of accepting the term at face value sticks in their pluralistic craw.

Their attitude tells us quite a lot about the mentality behind their refusal to accept the term. First there is a denial that the act of abortion, takes a life, that it actually kills a baby, another human being. We have been told many times that it simply a ‘bunch of cells’ or that it is only potential life rather than human life with potential.

Then there is an ideology, the idea that abortion is a legitimate choice expressed as the so-called ‘right to choose’. We all have choices, life is full of choices and we can choose life or death. Can someone who commits murder because that is his or her choice be seen as making a legitimate choice? Of course not and yet the pretence that, either there is no human life present or that there is a right to choose to terminate a life simply because it is inconvenient, is no different.

Those who are pro-abortion like to hide behind the expression pro-choice and become very agitated when they are described as being pro-abortion.

We are pro-life because we wish to protect all life, both the life of an unborn baby and the right to life of a mother and we say categorically that you should not choose to end either life. Rather each life must be recognized as being valuable, having dignity and the right to live, the right to survive.

We are often reminded of hard cases such as pregnancy following rape. In such a case the rapist should face the full rigour of the law but there are two victims and each must be cared for and protected. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that “The child by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.