Editor’s note. The following is reprinted from Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News.

The Worst Kind of Grief -- Part Two of Two

By Maria Vitale, Education Director  (vitale@paprolife.org)

E. Joanne Angelo, M.D., has been involved in psychiatric practice for more than 40 years.  She's helped hundreds of people--men, women and children--grieve the loss of someone close to them, someone they love.

In an article which appears in the Spring issue of the "Human Life Review," Dr. Angelo says emphatically, "The death of a child by procured abortion is by far the most traumatic loss to grieve."  She cites a number of reasons for this:  the death is violent and untimely.  The body is dismembered.  For the parents, Dr. Angelo notes, "there are no remains, no child to hold, no pictures to keep, no religious service, no grave to visit."

As a result, the mothers and fathers of aborted children often suffer in solitude, having to fend for themselves with feelings of emptiness, grief, and guilt.  The suffering can lead to substance abuse as the parents of aborted children try unsuccessfully to deal with their pain.

Flashbacks to the abortion experience can end up haunting them for years.  Dr. Angelo says the flashbacks can be triggered by the most ordinary things--"the sound of a vacuum cleaner or the suction apparatus in a dentist's office, the music they heard at the abortion clinic, a baby in a TV ad, or a gynecological exam."

Subsequent pregnancies can be marked by feelings of "incompetency as a parent" which can tragically lead to additional abortions.  Given this fact, it's not so surprising that more than 40 percent of abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.  And thus the cycle of guilt, pain, and death continues.

As Dr. Angelo says, "the havoc which abortion has wrought in our society can no longer be denied."

However, Angelo offers reason for hope, noting that when parents of aborted children receive compassionate support and spiritual care, they "can become the wounded healers of our society, crying out, silently or in a loud voice, 'No more.'"  

Part One