HOW TO SURVIVE ABORTION COUNSELLING AND TELL THE TALE

To comment, please open your gmail account, email me or use Facebook, Messenger or Twitter. Scroll down for other comments.


"She said I had 'burnt my bridges and no other man would want me now'."  

This, incredibly, was the year 1996. 'She' was a counsellor. A friend of mine had been referred to this 'counsellor' by her GP, after she'd confirmed my friend's home pregnancy test as positive. 

"She instructed me to go immediately to see the counsellor – I saw them talking in the hallway before I was sent through.   I didn’t want to see the counsellor. I didn’t think it was any of her business.  

"She asked me what I had done over the holidays, I told her I had been away up North.  She began to get angry and said ‘What ELSE?!’ So, I told her I was pregnant.  She advised me to have an abortion and continue with my studies.  I said I didn’t want to.  She said I had ‘burnt my bridges and no other man would want me now.’ "

My friend - yes, her name is Anonymous - is making this experience the basis for her submission on the Abortion Legislation currently before Parliament. She continues:

"I became pregnant during my second year of study at Wellington Polytechnic - Fashion Design and Technology, 1996.  I went to see the Doctor to confirm my home pregnancy test.  She instructed me to go immediately to see the counsellor – I saw them talking in the hallway before I was sent through.   I didn’t want to see the counsellor. I didn’t think it was any of her business.  

She asked me what I had done over the holidays, I told her I had been away up North.  She began to get angry and said ‘What ELSE?!’ I told her I was pregnant.  She advised me to have an abortion and continue with my studies.  I said I didn’t want to.  

She said I had ‘burnt my bridges and no other man would want me now.’  

That was over 23 years ago.  My daughter – the tiny person who was then in my womb, in my care – is now married to a lovely man and has a two year old son.  

If I had been more vulnerable – unsure of my decision (by the way - there was no way I would ever consider abortion!!) I could have been coerced into terminating my baby and never seen her grow into the woman she is now.  And I can promise you that if I had gone down that road (abortion), it would have been a disaster for me – mentally, spiritually and potentially fatal.  

The notion that it is ‘hard’ to get an abortion is absolutely absurd.  Rather I would like to know what protection you can provide to prevent women from being coerced into something they don’t understand or want?  

I believe that every woman has the right to know what happens during the procedure of abortion.  That they should be fully informed of what it entails and just as strongly encouraged to consider adoption.  

I also believe ‘the woman’, who is my daughter, had rights when she was in my womb, in my care.  She had every right to live her life!  She is the apple of my eye – no matter what the circumstances of her conception were.  She is an individual, beautiful, brave, loyal and deeply loving.  I have been truly blessed, and am continually blessed by the new family she has created.

‘The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.’ – Mahatma Ghandi  

I say: 

Here we see the quality of the 'counselling' offered pregnant NZ women. It's enough to make me write my submission.