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American Victims of Abortion
American Victims of Abortion (AVA) is committed to exposing the truth of abortion's tragedy in our communities. Abortion as a cure to the problems we or our neighbors face is the ultimate deception. Abortion does not solve problems or create hope, the choice of abortion can only kill our children.
The primary work of AVA involves broad-based public awareness campaigns. Some of our efforts involve legislative initiatives and judicial activity. Using our own personal experience with abortion, we work with both federal and state legislative programs to protect the lives of others facing the same crisis we've experienced.  We are working to foster greater sensitivity to the truth about abortion and abortion's aftermath at all levels of the media. It is in these two areas that we feel our stories can have a dramatic impact on public opinion. Members work within the pro-life movement to save lives through public speaking, lobbying, media appearances, and writing. AVA is not directly involved with counseling work but does refer to other groups when possible.
American Victims of Abortion is aware of the need for much in-depth work in the area of post-abortion healing. Our members support and encourage the development of honest, caring support systems across the country. We are encouraging further research into Post-Abortion Syndrome because we believe understanding is the key to healing.
Olivia Gans, Director of American Victims of Abortion
Olivia Gans directs American Victims of Abortion (AVA), an outreach project of the National Right to Life Committee. Miss Gans helped to organize one of the nation's first peer-to-peer post-abortion support groups in the New York City area after almost two years of suffering through an acute emotional reaction to her own abortion experience as an unwed college student. Miss Gans has spoken widely on post-abortion syndrome and other abortion-related issues in the United States and in Europe. A frequent witness before legislative bodies, she provides testimony on informed consent laws and parental notification laws as well as abortion complications. In the nineteen years since she became AVA director she has traveled to over seventeen countries. Between 1994 and 2000, Miss Gans was a non-governmental organization delegate to numerous United Nations conferences. Those include the 1994 World Population and Development Conference held in Egypt; the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women held in Bejing, China; and the 2000 World summit on Children held in New York City. Miss Gans has appeared on such nationally syndicated programs such as Nightline, Good Morning America, and Hannity & Colmes, and on C-SPAN, CNN, and National Public Radio news programs. In addition to her duties at NRLC, Miss Gans currently serves as the president of the Virginia Society for Human Life.
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