ABSTRACT
If you’ve had an abortion and are feeling isolated and vulnerable, Experiencing Abortion will remind you that you are not alone and that you must feel your emotions in order to accept your choice and heal. Each woman responds to abortion in her own way, yet, as this sensitive, insightful book shows, there are many similarities among women’s post-abortion emotions. Sharing in the firsthand, personal experiences of other women who speak for themselves in this book will help you come to terms with anguish, stress, grief, anger, or any other overwhelming emotions you might be feeling. Don’t go on ignoring or blocking out your feelings. Learn to incorporate your experience into your sense of self in a healthy way.By reading Experiencing Abortion, you will learn about the multiple feelings and reactions abortion can trigger, the process of accepting an abortion, and the struggle to control fertility without treating your body as an enemy. Offering you a safe, honest, and supportive environment in which to explore your feelings about your abortion, this book discusses many important topics, including:
- the way moods can overtake you after abortion
- how avoiding your experience can defer acceptance, which in turn leads to denial and guilt
- how pregnancy, abortion, and subsequent bleeding can affect your perception of your body
- the struggle to enjoy sex after your abortion
- your heightened awareness of gender after an abortion
- how your intimate relationships may change after an abortion
- the psychological reasons you may sometimes forgo birth control
- accepting yourself after a second abortion
Experiencing Abortion will help women who have had an abortion understand that it is a complex physical and emotional experience that doesn’t necessarily end after a week or a month or a year. It will also help professionals in abortion facilities and therapists who offer pre- and post-abortion counseling understand how abortion affects each individual differently and how they might help women work through their feelings both before and after abortion. Partners, friends, and families will find this book helpful and informative as they try to help their loved one get through this sometimes difficult, even traumatic, experience.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |95 pages
Responding to the Changes
chapter |21 pages
Moving Through Moodiness
chapter |16 pages
Coping with Stress and Regaining Control
chapter |20 pages
The Empowering Force of Anger
chapter |20 pages
Allowing Ourselves to Grieve the Losses
chapter |15 pages
Relief: Now and Later
part |82 pages
Working Toward Acceptance
chapter |18 pages
Lifting the Veil of Denial
chapter |19 pages
A New Self Emerges
chapter |20 pages
Feeling Sure of the Decision
part |53 pages
Our Bodies–Friends or Enemies?
chapter |17 pages
Making Peace with Our Bodies
chapter |17 pages
Preventing Pregnancy, Preserving Pleasure
chapter |15 pages
Ending More Than One Pregnancy
part |95 pages
When Relationships Shift
chapter |17 pages
Breaking Through Silence
chapter |19 pages
Family: When We Confront Our Biggest Fans and Harshest Judges
chapter |14 pages
Friends: When Pregnancy and Abortion Test Platonic Ties
chapter |19 pages
Gender Awareness: When Feelings About Women and Men Change
part |21 pages
Moving on