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Articles» ABORTION: Viewpoint of a Christian Physician » The Eight Most Common Pro-Abortion Arguments in Jamaica » Abortion – What is the real cost? BiosStatements |
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Knutsford Court Hotel, Kingston
February 7, 2008
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you Pregnancy Resource Centre of Jamaica (PRCJ) and the work we do. Allow me to start with an interesting perspective that is rarely brought out in the open:
Abortion kills
pre-born human babies and hurts whole families… Consider for a moment
what the world would be like if your grandmother had been aborted! There
were over 900 murders in 1996: and allegedly over 20,000 abortions with
corresponding thousands of hurting of post-abortive mothers [and fathers].
PRCJ is committed to empowering Jamaicans, especially our youth, to save
theirs and their children’s lives.
We as a nation have to face this problem of abortion squarely because
it has drastic, long-term consequences for our society:
- Abortions are done daily on women of all ages throughout Jamaica… Some without their expressed permission.
- Many suffer serious physical and psychological problems after abortion, becoming highly traumatized; some to even to needing prolonged therapy.
- There is no real support/counselling available to abortion-vulnerable, post-abortive women, and definitely not for post-abortive men who suffer silently.
- In abortion both the woman and her baby (or babies, with multiple conceptions) are victims. Some women suffer for life, many having negative behaviour changes often due to lowered self esteem.
- Potential stalwart citizens are killed in the womb daily, never getting a chance to pursue much less fulfil purpose.
- The idea of a woman choosing to abort is only true if she has been informed. Our women are not informed about foetal development, abortion procedures, and possible consequences of abortion
- The society places a demand on young people to be sexually active even though they are not ready for the responsibly of children. When the touted contraceptives fail, which they inevitably do, unwanted pregnancies place a further demand for abortion.
But we as members of the Christian church are not without real, compassionate solutions to these problems:
PRCJ operates with trained volunteers and depends on community support and donations. We seek to address the need in the Montego Bay community (with a desire to be reproduced throughout the Island) for pregnancy counselling and help in the areas of unplanned or crisis pregnancies in which abortion becomes the first thought as a quick fix. Post-Abortion healing and Abstinence Education are a part of our planned programme. We provide non-judgmental, compassionate, confidential care, counsel, and support to abortion-vulnerable girls/women. Aims of the centre are to:
- Save the lives of babies threatened by abortion through prayer teams, education, counsel, literature availability, and abortion awareness sessions
- Be a safe place where a young woman can feel empowered to make a decision for life for her pre-born child through free, factual information on her value as an individual, on foetal development, abortion procedures, and possible consequences of abortion
- Provide alternatives to abortion – relative to the situation and what the crisis presents: adoption, fostering, .parenting with help.
- Be a place of refuge and healing where post-abortive men, women, or couples can find freedom from guilt and condemnation, in a non-pressuring way, their answer being in Jesus Christ
- Provide, lovingly, material assistance of food, clothing and necessities, where available, to clients who may have this need.
- Establish a ministry in Abstinence Education with presentation in Churches, schools, youth groups, clubs with a view to educate them so they can chose wisely
Observations on Post-Abortion
complications for Jamaican women and men:
Abortions are done on women right across the classes of our society. They
are usually driven to this by fears of different kinds. Indeed teenagers
are often trembling as they come for a pregnancy test., yet, of more than
50 clients who received free pregnancy tests, only one (1) girl desired
to have her baby if she was pregnant (she had a replacement need from
a previous abortion), one other- an older woman - wanted to please her
mate. Every other girl would want an abortion if she is pregnant. In each
case, when they left PRCJ they were informed, empowered, and had changed
hearts. To date there has been 12 decisions to let the children live.
One person left undecided, and all others had negative test results.
Allow me to conclude
with two anecdotes:
One teenager, traumatized by a rape situation, did not get treated within
the 24 hour window for conception. Her baby was fully developed (over
8 weeks) by the time her parents obtained an abortion for her. Now free
from the negatives assumed/associated with having this child, she experiences
instead depression, suicide ideation, and is filled with a multitude of
mixed emotions for both parents. Socially, she became hypersensitive,
fearing what friends and classmates are saying, even losing close personal
friends. She is currently receiving counselling and her healing is progressing.
Men suffer as well. One young man asked me not to talk about the subject in class. He said he went mad for three months after the young woman disclosed that she had killed his child. Further, he suffered extreme feelings of anger, deep depression, drank excessively, and felt he was sleeping his life away. He did not know that he was experiencing symptoms of Post-Abortion Stress.
Abortion kills pre-born
human babies and hurt whole families! Thank you for your kind
attention to this message.
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