Alliance VITA’s Assistant General Delegate, Caroline Roux was invited by Philippe David to speak on “Radio Sud” for the broadcast entitled “I Stand Alone” on November 2, to discuss abortion.
A few excerpts from the broadcast:
About abortion, a large number of women are victimized for feeling uneasy, due to the persistent obstinacy and prevailing stance in France which tries to convince us that abortion has no intimate, social nor ethical significance. However, women understand very well that human lives are at stake in an abortion. This leads to painful questions…”
« We have to face reality: abortion is primarily a social and humanitarian problem. Today, the issue is to try to understand why women resort to abortion. It is very important to be aware of one specific statistic: 72% of the women who abort admit they have been using contraception when they discovered that they were pregnant. Do we allow a margin for error? This is the starting point of a huge misunderstanding between men and women.”
« Women are victimized for feeling ambivalent: torn between joy and panic when faced with pregnancy. Pressure is put upon them to make a quick choice, just at the moment when they need some time to consider all the possible solutions.”
“The pressure regarding the time limit is completely occulted. It is even paradoxical since the deadline for having an abortion has been extended from 10 to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Today the vast majority of abortions are drug-induced or “medical” abortions” and must take place between the first 5 to 7 weeks of pregnancy.”
« This is an opportunity for politicians and also the general public to change their stance on unplanned pregnancy to avoid a social stigma, such as some women experience today: feeling rejected and judged faced with an unplanned pregnancy. This is extremely disturbing and distressing for women.”
« Today, the issue is to find a genuine prevention policy for abortion, so that those who wish to avoid abortion can actually do so. The IFOP survey on abortion published in September 2016 reveals that 72% of the French population think that the public should do more to help women avoid abortion and 89% believe that abortion leaves psychological side-effects that are extremely painful. Faced with this challenge we should not just sit back or be discouraged.”
“There is an attitude of denial and a profound silence after an abortion. Even on the French government’s abortion website, there is a video of a gynecologist who goes to great lengths to confirm that there are no long-term psychological side-effects following an abortion. I’m not trying to say that every woman suffers, nor with the same intensity of emotions. But I have observed that some women suffer, and feel a need to speak about their abortion, sometimes quite a long time after the actual event. Young people are presented with so much technical information: go ahead and have sexual relationships, but be careful not to have children! This is extremely painful for young girls faced with pregnancy.”
« Women faced with this dilemma need to be able to voice their concerns and be heard, to let them know that abortion is not the one and only solution.”
“In my personal experience, I have listened to many women who chose “anonymous childbirth”. This is always a difficult and painful decision; I recall a woman who said: the fact is that society judges us, but as far as I’m concerned I made the gift of life to a child.”
