April has been declared Child
Abuse Prevention Month. Given that Pro-Life organizations are committed to defend the
right to life of each human person from conception to natural death, it naturally follows
that preventing child abuse is consistent with Pro-Life principles and goals.
Abortion proponents claim that abortion prevents child abuse. They like the phrase “every child a wanted
child” to imply that abortion can be justified for unwanted children and that wanted
children will not be abused. Does reality
support such a claim?
In fact, studies show that just the reverse occurs. Abortion produces more child abuse, not less. One study released in March 2007 demonstrated that
“a history of abortion is associated with more frequent acts of physical aggression
toward subsequent children.” This study
was published in the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology.
The authors found that mothers who had a history of abortion
displayed significantly more frequent acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting
or beating, directed at their children.
Priscilla Coleman, a professor of human development and family
studies at Bowling Green State University and lead author of the study, suggested
“the link between abortion and child abuse may be influenced by a number of key
factors, including unresolved grief, having felt pressured into an unwanted abortion, and
disruption in maternal bonding with subsequently born children.”
Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and a leading
researcher who has been involved in more than a dozen studies on the impact of abortion on
women, said “this latest study confirms the general findings of previous studies
linking abortion with a higher risk of abuse or neglect.”
Scientific evidence suggests that abortion leads to more child abuse so ending abortion
will reduce child abuse. Abortion has
negative impacts on the mother and her future children.
Additionally, when a mother chooses life over abortion, she also prevents
the ultimate child abuse, denial of her child’s right to life. It is neither logical nor scientifically supported
to suggest that abortion reduces child abuse.