Grief counsellors say Church health bodies are effectively living in a state of denial.
By Robert Hiini
Parish Reporter
Catholic health bodies are not taking abortion trauma seriously and their inaction is contributing to the denial of the after effects of abortion in society and the wider medical profession, says Abortion Grief Australia (AGA) in a new discussion paper.
Abortion Trauma: A serious Mental Health Issue (The Catholic Church’s Response – A Need to Reflect), was sent to every diocese in Australia last November but has only been made public recently.
In the document, the AGA calls for abortion trauma to be treated as a medical issue independent of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the ethics of abortion, stating that Catholic health institutions are well placed to provide leadership in the area.
Abortion, the paper claims, is regarded as “an essential tool to combat social ills,” and because abortion trauma is not being identified, the AGA says, its manifestations are being used to promote the need for abortion.
“By ignoring growing international research linking abortion to substance abuse, suicide, depression, relationship problems, psychiatric illness, domestic violence, and premature death,” the paper states, “health authorities have allowed current attitudes towards abortion to remain unchallenged. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for professionals to treat abortion trauma seriously.”
Many health professionals who identify abortion trauma experience “a lack of peer support and professional isolation,” AGA says, with one doctor cited as describing it as “professional suicide” to speak of abortion trauma.
The AGA paper calls on Catholic health, welfare and educational institutions to:
– Educate their professionals in the identification, healing and prevention of abortion trauma.
– Facilitate the establishment of multi-disciplinary professional peer support structures.
– Establish early intervention programs for the traumatised.
– Establish structures to enable women and men to express and work through their trauma.
The paper calls on Catholic educators to:
– Treat the physical and psychological manifestations of abortion trauma as a health education issue, independently of the ethical issues surrounding abortion.
– Draw attention to the issue of women being pressured into unwanted abortions.
– As part of religious education, provide guidelines on how our young can respond to family and friends hurting as a result of an abortion experience.
Speaking to The Record, AGA’s founder and director Julie Cook said that Catholic health institutions were “handicapped by a reliance on information from mainstream professional bodies.”
“Catholic health and educational institutions need to start addressing the issue of abortion trauma.
“Their inaction is a tangible statement that is not missed on the community, policy makers and their professional non-Catholic peers,” Ms Cook said. While agreeing that the subject is worthy of public discussion and that health care providers should be mindful of particular needs, Catholic Health Australia chief executive Martin Laverty disagreed with some of the claims made in AGA’s discussion paper.
“If a person was to present as requiring care as the result of any type of trauma, they are going to be embraced by Catholic healthcare professionals,” Mr Laverty said.
Women presenting to Catholic health institutions during childbirth may find trauma triggered from an earlier termination, he said; a situation in which the attention of care givers would be immediately provided.
Mr Laverty said that as most women are aware of the ethical position of the Catholic Church on terminations, Catholic hospitals were unlikely to be “the first point of call” to women suffering post-abortive trauma.
Mr Laverty criticised many of the claims in the paper as being without evidence.
“Reform of systems can only be undertaken when there is evidence to prove the case. Any change has got to be informed by some evidence.”