WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The women of Operation Outcry will hold a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, January 20, 2012, to discuss this issue. All of the women of Operation Outcry are women who have been hurt by abortion.
Myra Myers, a member of the Operation Outcry National Advisory Committee states, "Roe v. Wade was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. I had my abortion shortly after Roe v. Wade. Before Roe, I was pregnant out of wedlock and never considered abortion. My husband and I got married and had four more children. Only after Roe v. Wade was legalized, did we consider abortion. It adversely impacted me physically and emotionally. Abortion should never have been legalized. If we had seen a sonogram, we would not have done it."
Danelle Hallenbeck of Operation Outcry in North Carolina said, "I am absolutely not better off under Roe and Doe. I lost a child and recently a grandchild. It caused physical problems and immense grief and sadness."
"Many women have experienced mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual trauma as a result of the effects of legalized abortion due to Roe v. Wade or Doe v. Bolton, can anyone say that's OK? It is not OK for any woman to experience these negative effects... Now add to this, the men and families whose lives have been severely traumatized as a result of abortion!" stated Karen Holdren, a member of the Operation Outcry National Advisory Committee.
Karen Bodle, also a member of the Operation Outcry National Advisory Committee said, "We are not better off under abortion. It devastated me. We are calling for millions of women to join their voices with us."
The women of Operation Outcry have collected over 5,000 legally admissible testimonies from women who have had abortions. They have presented these testimonies to courts and legislatures considering the effect of abortion on women and men.
Their own devastating stories of physical and psychological trauma also are supported by scientific research including the most recent study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry by Professor Priscilla Coleman. This meta-analysis recently reviewed 22 major studies and found that women who had an abortion had an 81% increased likelihood of adverse mental health consequences, and that ten percent of female mental health problems studied were attributable to abortion. bjp.rcpsych.org/content/199/3/180.
Testimonies of Operation Outcry women hurt by legal abortion have influenced three major courts in America, including the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the partial birth abortion ban in the Gonzales v. Carhart case, and most recently when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Texas Sonogram law, on January 10, 2012, in Texas Medical Providers, et al v. David Lakey, et al. The third major court influenced by their testimony was the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the South Dakota statute requiring abortionists to tell a woman in writing that abortion "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." What the testimonies of the women have demonstrated repeatedly to the courts of the United States is "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained... Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow."
It is the beginning of the 40th year of Roe and Doe and the end of both cases as controlling precedent.
For anyone who is suffering from abortion, please call the National Helpline for Abortion Recovery 1-866-482-5433(LIFE).
