Five years after her abortion, Karen's relationship with the baby's father, which she had nurtured as a way to justify the abortion, was over. She slipped into depression. I became worthless. I sought avenues to try to cover up how I was feeling and the worthlessness that I felt. The depression, the self-loathing, the suicidal thoughts are all typical delayed reactions to abortion, they say.
Abortion solves problems, they say.
Karen was probably disturbed before her abortion, they would suggest. But there is some evidence that the wall of post-abortion denial is cracking. Some honest proponents of abortion rights are admitting the ugly secret of post-abortion distress. And although their understanding of the depths of the problem is limited, their acknowledgment is a huge advance. One of the new acknowledgers is Ava Torre-Bueno, a licensed social worker, who began doing pregnancy counseling in a Planned Parenthood clinic in 1975, two years after Roe v. Wade was decided.