This year marks the 30th anniversary of the infamous U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision giving women on-demand access to abortion for virtually any reason. The controversy is far from over as we see witnessed in front of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor every Sunday, where Professor Terence Hughes and a small group pray and display pictures of the effects of abortion upon the growing child in the womb. Obviously, pro-life people care about the suffering of the unborn.

However, there is a misconception widely held that pro-life people are not concerned about the mother. For example, in a letter to the editor of the Bangor Daily News published in February, the writer stated, “In all the impassioned letters concerning pro-life and compassion for the unborn, I fail to see any regard for the life or health of a mother.” This could not be farther from the truth.

In a national symposium sponsored by Feminists For Life, Women Affirming Life and Women’s Fund of Americans United for Life, at Boston College Law School this past January, several impressive female experts addressed the impact of 30 years of abortion upon women.

Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., FACS, co-founder of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute and co-director of the Breast Center at Somerset Medical Center, presented compelling evidence that links abortion and contraceptive use to breast cancer. Basically, the more estrogen exposure, the greater the risk. Estrogen exposure results from 1) increased number of lifetime menstrual cycles, 2) hormone replacement therapy, and 3) birth control polls.

Abortion increases breast cancer by three mechanisms: 1) It leaves the breast with increased numbers of Type I and 2 lobules, which are then exposed to more estrogen through menstrual cycles; 2) The breast is exposed to high levels of estrogen during pregnancy which can induce a cancer cell to form; and 3) the loss of the protective effect of a full-term pregnancy. It is estimated that abortion causes an additional 10,000 cases of breast cancer each year, and the cumulative lifetime risk of breast cancer by the year 2000 is one in eight or 12.5 percent. She concluded that, “It is unconscionable that women’s lives and health are being sacrificed for political correctness.”

E. Joanne Angelo, M.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, spoke of symptoms treated without explaining their root causes have resulted in “waves of grief that are building into a tidal wave of grief.” In a recently published book, “Forbidden Grief,” by Teresa Burke, Ph.D., psychotherapist and founder of the international ministry Rachel’s Vineyard, and co-authored by David Reardon, it states that “those who aborted their babies were 63 percent more likely to receive mental health outpatient care in the 90 days after their abortion. And the distress wasn’t fleeting either. Reardon found that the post-abortive women he studied were significantly more likely over the next four years to be treated for psychiatric illness like bipolar disorder, neurotic depression and schizophrenia.”

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eleonor Professor of the Humanities and professor of history at Emory University, reflected that the “repudiation of children is a sign of moral and social bankruptcy,” and “repudiation of children is also repudiation of women.” She concluded that this is the “most important subject on the moral, social and cultural agenda, … and it is a serious mistake to underestimate it.”

The Washington, D.C.-based group Feminists for Life has begun an advertising campaign titled, “Women Deserve Better.” The ad was placed in Washington-based subways and read, “Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion.” At the March for Life in Washington, post-abortive women spoke out in a Silent No More campaign.

An attempt was made this year to pass an improved informed consent bill in the Maine Legislature. This would have required a 24-hour reflective period, and to include well-defined written and oral information to be given to a woman contemplating abortion. It was defeated by the Legislature.

Many crisis pregnancy centers recognize the psychological and spiritual suffering of women and offer post-abortion counseling in addition to crisis pregnancy counseling. Religious leaders have addressed this issue. Pope John Paul II said, “Their sorrow will not be in vain, it will have its rewards. There are new ripples of hope and peace. Suffering is present in order to release love in the world.”

There is cause for hope if we are faithful to the truth.

Jean Barry is a resident of Bangor and a member of Women Affirming Life.