In 2018, graphic autopsy images were released of a woman dying from a legal abortion. Her mother insisted the photos be made public. The story broke my heart.
As 18-year-old Marla Cardamone lay in her casket prior to viewing, the funeral director suggested to Marla’s mother, Deborah, they close the casket so people would not see Marla’s disfigured face. Deborah Caramone told him to leave the casket open. She hopes to expose the lies of the abortion industry and wants people to understand abortions are not always ‘safe and legal’. In order to do this, she bravely chose to show her daughter’s bruised and swollen face, caused by abortion complications. Marla died at a Pennsylvania hospital and Deborah Cardamone vowed her daughter would not be forgotten.
Just a few days earlier, a medical counselor pushed Marla to have an abortion telling her that the prescription medication she had been taking would cause her baby to be born with severe birth defects. Following Marla’s death, it was determined by doctors her baby had no abnormalities.
Frank Pavone once said, “America will never resist abortion until America sees abortion.”
Thanks in part to advances in technology such as ultrasound imagery, it’s clear and easy to see a growing and moving baby inside a mother’s womb which has raised awareness that an unborn child is alive, human, and abortion is murder.
Americans have tolerated the evil of legalized abortion and have become so desensitized to violence and death that we don’t see eliminating innocent human life as a brutal or selfish act – or at least we don’t speak up about it enough. God have mercy on our hardened hearts.
I once had a head-spinning conversation with a young woman about defining life. She was so disconnected with the Bible, reality, and science, that she insisted if she became pregnant, whatever it was growing inside her was not technically alive unless she was at a point in her life where she was ready and wanted to have a baby. Apparently, this is called ‘reproductive justice.’
Even the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022 wasn’t enough to stop the evil of man. Our culture is too far gone and only God through Jesus Christ can change human hearts. We need to reach people with the message that every single life is a divine gift and has value.
America’s culture of death was pioneered in part by Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger. It’s important to understand her warped worldview along with her atheist, feminist, and elitist mindset that justified population-control in order to successfully engage in the present battle for life and morality.
Sadly, we seldom hear an extremely important part of this discussion in the pro-choice media, or anywhere: the trauma of abortions often cause years of emotional pain, torment, and anguish. This is both deceptive and problematic.
Many young women who tell others about their abortion try to act normal and hide the fact that they are in physical or emotional pain. Many experience severe trauma soon after receiving an abortion.
In a study of post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after their abortion, researchers found that 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor.
According to Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University, “Women who have had an abortion have an 81% higher risk of subsequent mental health problems compared to women who have not had an abortion. Also, women who aborted have a 138% (another study showed 160%) higher risk of mental health problems compared to women who have given birth.”
A New Zealand study that tracked women for more than three decades discovered 42% of women who aborted experienced major depression. There is accurate information available, but the media, Hollywood, government, and the abortion industry rarely address this issue.
In 2012, the mother of a 24-year-old woman who died after an abortion filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Illinois. Tonya Reaves died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital July 20 after she began to hemorrhage at a Planned Parenthood clinic. The Autopsy stated Miss Reaves suffered from an incomplete abortion. The story got little coverage.
Several years earlier, 25-year-old Diana Lopez was 19 weeks pregnant when she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Los Angeles for an abortion. Before the day was over, Ms. Lopez – just like Ms. Reaves – had bled to death from a botched abortion.
Another 18-year-old, Holly Patterson, entered a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hayward, California seeking a chemical abortion. She died seven days later (September 17) as a result of an incomplete abortion causing a severe bacterial infection. A Women’s Enews correspondent reported: “Holly had taken RU-486, an abortion drug that has been used by more than 1 million women worldwide and is widely viewed as a safe alternative to surgical abortion. But Holly died tragically of a massive infection after taking the drug protocol.”
In July 2011, the FDA reported 2,207 adverse events in the U.S. after women used the RU-486 regimen. Among those were 14 deaths, 612 hospitalizations, 339 blood transfusions, and 256 infections (including 48 “severe infections”).
Tragically, many so-called ‘counselors’ at abortion clinics downplay mental and physical health risks the majority of the time in order to sell customers abortions, not to mention the fact that the procedure will violently end a child’s life. My heart goes out to those who believe the godless lie that this “procedure” is justified under the labels of choice and privacy.
The promotion of biblical principles and abstinence education in churches, schools, and society is vital in order to affect positive change. Stop messing around, yes. Limit abortions, yes. Stop funding Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars, yes! But we also need to remember the power of prayer, the Word of God, and true, caring Christianity. People may not respond to debates, laws, or rules, but they most always – eventually – respond to unconditional love. Let’s keep speaking the truth and fighting for life.
