Help, Healing, Research, Education and Advocacy
This comment was recently posted to our web site: My mother was raped at age 16. Her parents forced her to have an abortion. She stopped going to church, dropped out of high school and became depressed. Her young adulthood was during WWII and she had a problem with relationships. She eventually married my father […]
By David C. Reardon The accusations that Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock believes “God intends pregnancies resulting from rape” reveal a despicable attitude toward justice and truth. But even worse, the commentary and debate taking place about rape pregnancies is profoundly hurtful to both women who became pregnant through rape and their children. While the comments may […]
By Theresa Burke with David C. Reardon Note: The following is an excerpt from the book Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion. Sharon had the look of a woman who had done some hard living. Her forehead was furrowed deeply with lines carved by decades of stress. Her leathery facial skin was the backdrop […]
Women Who Became Pregnant Through Rape Renew Calls for Congressional Hearings Group Asks Both Sides to Listen to and Respond to Real Needs of Pregnant Sexual Assault Victims We are members of the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant by Sexual Assault (WPSA). This group was formed eight years ago to petition Congress to hold […]
Survey of Women Became Pregnant Through Rape Finds Most Don’t Want Abortions; Say It Adds to Trauma As the furor continues over the Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks that pregnancy from rape is very rare, one very important thing is being overlooked: what do women who have actually been there have to say about this […]
Argument to Invert Traditional Medical Standards Rejected Springfield, IL (July 26, 2012) — A U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that abortion providers can be required to disclose risks associated with abortion, even if the attending doctor believes the associated risk is only incidental to the abortion and not a direct result of it. At […]
A federal court has dissolved an injunction against enforcement of a new law in South Dakota that requires abortion doctors to screen women for coercion and other factors that increase the risk of psychological complications after abortion. Beginning July 1, physicians must screen women for coercion and other risk factors for psychological complications before scheduling […]
Annual Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon Raises $468,000 in Another Strike Against Women and Children The National Network of Abortion Funds — representing over 100 grassroots groups — once again took aim at bowling pins, babies and mothers in yet another misguided attempt to “help” women. Advocates of legal abortion are once again “helping” women by tuning […]
The stories mentioned in books such as Aborted Women, Silent No More, Forbidden Grief and Giving Sorrow Words are part of a larger picture and an emerging body of evidence about abortion’s impact on women. Both qualitative and quantitative evidence indicate that unwanted and coerced abortions are common, and that coercion can take many direct […]
Response to Critics Published in Leading Medical Journal After several months’ delay, a leading medical journal has published a letter by Elliot Institute director Dr. David Reardon in response to recent ad hominem attacks by abortion advocates attempting to deny a link between abortion and mental health problems in women. The criticism began last fall […]
An “apples vs. oranges” comparison of dissimilar data sets is being used to promote the lie that abortion is safer than childbirth. Meanwhile, pristine record-linkage studies proving the opposite are being ignored.
Many people assume that if a woman or girl goes to an abortion facility, she wants an abortion. But many women and girls who have been there say that they were looking for information and help — often help to continue a pregnancy or stop someone seeking to pressure or force them to abort — […]
In an article at National Review, population control expert Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, offers some shocking information on sex selection abortions in the United States: [Dr. Sunita Puri], who practices in the Bay Area, wanted to find out why so many immigrant Indian women in the United States were so eager […]
Petition Signers Say Using Their Situation to Promote Abortion Stops Women from Getting Authentic Help Abortion and sexual assault pregnancy is a difficult issue for many people, especially since no one wants to hurt those who have already been traumatized. For many, abortion seems like a compassionate answer for women and girls who become pregnant […]
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently claimed that a bill that would prohibit federal funding for healthcare plans that cover abortions and protect the right of health care workers not to be involved in performing abortions would lead to the deaths of women: Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today, they […]
This year marks 11 years since the RU-486 abortion drug was approved for use in the United States. According to a report released this summer by the Food & Drug Administration, the deaths of at least 12 women and more than 2,200 adverse effects have been reported since the drug was approved. The deaths include […]
22 Year Delay of National Study on Abortion’s Mental Health Risks is a Crime Against Women, Says Researcher Springfield, IL (September 26, 2011) – In the wake of a new study published by Britain’s Royal College of Psychiatrists showing that abortion is linked to elevated rates of mental health problems, the Elliot Institute is calling […]
Here’s a short clip from the GOP Presidential candidate debate that aired Aug. 11, in which candidate Rick Santorum defends the humanity of the unborn child conceived in rape, but also points out that abortion constitutes a second trauma for the woman who was assaulted: Indeed, most people assume that women and girls who become […]
A post by Christina Dunigan at the Real Choice blog explores how the abortion industry preys on women and their families by using the normal, ambivalent feelings many women experience on learning that they are pregnant to sell abortions: For many women, accepting (or coming to terms with) the pregnancy will usually involve a mixture […]
In this piece from The Washington Times, Mailee Smith of Americans United for Life describes how the abortion industry is undermining the rights of women by attacking pregnancy resource centers: There is a new war on choice in this country, and the leaders are none other than the captains of the abortion industry. Their target: […]
South Dakota Law Protects Rights of Women Facing Coerced and Unsafe Abortions, Gives Information on Alternatives Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit over a new South Dakota law requiring doctors to screen women for coercion and psychological risk factors before abortion, claiming it is unconstitutional, Reuters is reporting. The law, which is to take effect […]
Statement on North Carolina House Bill 854 Abortion – Woman’s Right to Know Act Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Martha W. Shuping, M.D. This statement is in support of HB 854. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of HB 854. My name is Martha Shuping. I’m a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry, fully […]
Mary Hamed at Americans United for Life reports on a tax-payer funded web site in Massachusetts that gives teens advice on how to get an abortion, including information on how to do so without telling their parents. From the article “When Maria Talks, Teens Should Not Listen”: How would you feel if you learned that […]
