Comment from Anna Del Duca

Mifepristone is widely recognized as dangerous for individuals experiencing unexpected pregnancy. As a BSN, Faith Community Nurse and registrant with Silent No More, I am one of more than 21,000 persons who have formally united to share post abortion trauma and regret with the Campaign. As parents wounded by abortion, we know firsthand that abortion related wounds are so inexpressibly painful and shameful that most parents wounded by abortion traumas will not be able to speak about them, nor seek medical, spiritual or psychological treatment. Parents who choose to terminate the lives of their children by choosing abortion regularly experience crippling shame and real or perceived widespread cultural condemnation including : familial shunning, relational/social abandonments, professional rejections & even religious persecution. We may believe ourselves unforgivable and not deserving to live because we are responsible for the physical death of our children. Following Mifepristone, short and long term side effects include: disabling trauma, ptsd and complex traumas, particularly as parents learn the truth that these tiny embryos actually were sons and daughters, one of a kind in all creation with beating hearts and sophisticated anatomical and physiological gestational development. Often witnessing tiny bodies, fingers and toes, hands and feet on toilet tissue post abortion, moms affected in these ways may be critically wounded. My personal post abortion trauma experiences included intrusive, torturous & unceasing thoughts perpetuated by self-unforgiveness. 50, 100, 300 times per day, I deeply lamented my child’s killing, and in my mind, these and similar thoughts ruminated: “I consented to the killing of my own child,” “I allowed a doctor to kill my child,” “I am a murderer,” “I am unforgivable,” “I may go to hell.” Each thought brought deep worthlessness, overwhelming guilt, unspeakable shame, clinical depression, inconsolable sorrow and perpetual torment. These thoughts infiltrated & significantly impaired every aspect of my life. I became reliant then addicted to alcohol, illegal drugs, and cigarettes, and then became bulimic and dropped out of college. I was self destructive until becoming pregnant again, at which point, I knew that I could not re-choose any form of abortion. Due to the tens of thousands of voices crying out in desperation and despair, Mifepristone is unsafe. Psychologically and spiritually, Mifepristone is a harmful option for parents experiencing unexpected pregnancy. Swift and complex supportive measures initiated on behalf of vulnerable parents, include supportive strategies relating to: food and housing security, emotional and spiritual parental support groups, medical care for both the developing child and mom, and in the cases of rape and incest immediate trauma healing plans and measures. Left untreated, chronic personal trauma can yield disability in parents and whole families across generations, negatively impacting our culture by self depreciation, self sabatoge, medical, emotional and spiritual disability, chronic illness and widespread increases in mortality and morbidity among individuals and communities impacted by post abortive trauma.