The Telegraph reports:

Women who have an abortion can suffer mental distress, anxiety, guilt and shame at least five years afterwards, researchers say today. - The Telegraph December 12, 2005

But, why would a woman feel any of those emotions? It's her body and thus her choice, right?

Or could it be that a woman who has an abortion should feel those emotions considering she took the life of an unborn child; her own to be exact?

A study in Norway compared a group of 40 women who had suffered a miscarriage with 80 women who had an abortion, questioning them 10 days, six months, two years and five years after the event.

Although women who had a miscarriage suffered more mental distress up to six months after losing their baby, women who had an abortion experienced more mental distress at the two- and five-year intervals.

Okay, let's use some critical thinking here, shall we? Those women who suffered a miscarriage as opposed to choosing an abortion might not wanted to have lost their children. It would stand to reason that a woman who loses her child to a miscarriage sees all that future she might have had planned for her child vanish in an instant, while a woman who has an abortion looks at her future without the nuisance of an unwanted child.

Later down the road, however, it is quite possible that the woman who had the abortion realizes just what she has done: taken an innocent life. The woman who has a miscarriage deals with her loss and realizes that her life must go on, and she may even want to try to have another child.

Who knows for sure? Well, further reading this article might answer that question:

They found that after 10 days 47.5 per cent of women who had miscarried suffered from mental distress compared with 30 per cent of the abortion group. The proportion of women who had a miscarriage suffering distress fell to 22.5 per cent at six months and 2.6 per cent at two years and five years.

However, levels of distress remained high in the abortion group, falling to 25.7 per cent at six months and 18 per cent at two years but rising to 20 per cent at five years. The women in the abortion group also had high levels of anxiety, guilt, shame and relief.

Again, the women who had a miscarriage did not choose to have a miscarriage. They are mourning over the unexpected loss of their children, whereas a woman who chooses to have an abortion just has to think about her decision. At first, the woman with the abortion might think her choice was a wise one, while the woman who loved her child enough to not kill it just wishes she still had her child developing inside her womb.

Women in the abortion group should have high levels of anxiety, guilt and shame! Their decisions ended innocent lives. I'm not sure why they would feel relief, if but for selfish reasons.

Anna Pringle, from the pro-life charity Life, said the research confirmed that abortion can cause "massive" emotional suffering. "We believe it is time that the Government acknowledges the fact that abortion carries with it psychological risks that can affect women long after the actual event," she said.

Let's not forget the permanent, irreversible affect of a dead person. All the guilt in the world will not bring the kid back.

While this commentary may sound like I'm bashing women who have had an abortion, it is not. I am not judging anyone. For all I know, many women who have had an abortion and feel guilt are now working towards reversing the laws for abortion. I do, however, condemn the actual act of abortion and know that it takes a human life each time one is done. Any woman who is in a predicament where abortion might be a viable option to her should read this article.

The reason why you might feel such feelings of guilt and shame is because your decisions had an everlasting affect on you and that child with whom you could have shared memories.

If there is anyone reading this who has had an abortion, realize that you are not an evil person, but a person who made a terrible decision at one point in her life. As Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," (St. John 8:7). But, through God's love and grace, we can all be cleansed of our sins and work towards being better servants for Him.

Any woman who is thinking of having an abortion, please realize that while life with a child might be rough, your child's life being prematurely terminated will be a lot rougher.