The Healing Choice, Part 1

One of the few books to deal with post-abortion healing from a pro-choice perspective is The Healing Choice: Your Guide to Emotional Recovery After An Abortion, by psychotherapists Candace De Puy and Dana Dovitch.

In the introduction, they discuss their motivation for writing the book: finding many clients whose abortions impacted their lives, and no resources that they found helpful to recommend to them.

Beneath the clamor of the abortion debate, the quiet impact abortion has on the psychological life of the woman who makes this choice has gone unheard. There is no cultural acknowledgment that she may have struggled over her decision or felt bereaved, or that the event may have left her with pain. Thus, abortion remains a significant personal experience that is not publicly recognized, socially sanctioned or frankly shared in the way a divorce, the death of a loved one or a miscarriage might be. A woman's emotional journey from conception to termination is often left buried in her psychological underground. As she fights the external stigma, she struggles to understand her internal process, but without a charted course for healing, she has little guidance to explore, integrate or resolve her feelings.

Emotional restoration after an abortion is a unique challenge because the emotions a woman experiences are the result of a choice she made. Paradoxically, her healing journey requires yet another significant choice--a healing choice. She can either live with the unresolved memories she may have struggled to hold at bay, or she can decide to go forward, look inward and examine herself. To find resolution, she must acknowledge feelings and recollections, even though it is tempting to fantasize that emotions will magically resolve themselves with time (pp. 14-15).

In the coming weeks, I will examine the book more deeply. It guides women through a step-by-step process to work through their experience by recalling the stories and processing the feelings related to the abortion, beginning with the pregnancy itself. It contains many practical exercises to assist in this process. If anyone has read this book or tried the exercises--or is now inspired to do so--your comments and sharing would be most welcome.