Dead Cant Rant

Since the legalization of abortion, child abuse has increased.

The promise had a fatal flaw in it, namely, the assumption that unwanted children are more likely to be abused. As E.F. Lenoski reported as early as 1976, the opposite is actually true. Abuse is more likely to occur among “wanted” children.

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First of all, every pregnancy is a “crisis” in the best sense of
the term. Pregnancy creates unique demands and challenges to the
mother to mature; the body, the mind, and the spirit must grow in
order to accommodate to the child. This “crisis of
incorporation,” as psychologists call it, puts the mother at a
crossroads: either she accepts the changes required of her by the
pregnancy, or she aborts the child, hence choosing to regress
rather than mature.

The choice not to mature, but rather to remain selfish, makes it
more likely that the mother will remain a less mature parent, and
this immaturity is a key cause of abuse and neglect of other
children.

A second problem is that fathers have no legal right to save
their unborn child from an abortion. Not knowing if the child
will live or die creates an ambivalence in the father, and a
reluctance to bond to the child. Unattached to their baby, they
show less support to their partner as well. After an abortion,
the alienation worsens. Some studies show as high as an 80% rate
of breakup of relationships after abortion. The mother’s anger at
the lack of support from the baby’s father can be displaced to a
born child.

A third reason why abortion can lead to child abuse is related to
bonding. Having an abortion makes it more difficult to bond to a
subsequent child, and babies who are not well bonded are more
likely to be abused and neglected. A pregnancy following abortion
creates more anxiety, caused in part by a fatalistic sense that
the child will be abnormal (as a punishment for having aborted
the previous one.) This anxiety can interfere with bonding.

Abortion Can Lead to Child Abuse, Has Increased Since Legalization