Post-Abortive Women and Men Finding Wholeness.(American Victims of Abortion )

Travel down any corridor at any time at National Right to Life's upcoming three-day national convention and as likely as not you'll see a sign for a workshop with Olivia Gans's name on it. Gans, the director of American Victims of Abortion (AVA), is always a whirlwind of activity at these conventions and she will be again when activists from around the nation gather July 35 in Crystal City, Virginia.

Herself the victim of an abortion in 1981, Gans brings a message of hope and reconciliation to women and (increasingly) men who have been emotionally wounded by their involvement in the death of an unborn child.

A speaker in 17 countries and a frequent guest on television, she increasingly talks and writes about what Gans calls the "ripple effect" of abortion. This commonsensical propositiononly those with minds immune to evidence believe women are alone in their abortion decisionhas been hidden largely because abortion has been seen as a "political" issue.

But, as Gans points out, while much more research needs to be done, there is a growing body of evidence that abortion has a long-term negative impact not only on many women but also on the fathers of these children. Abortion, she says, is a lose-lose-lose proposition.

"If abortion is bad for children, because it kills them," Gans asks, "and we find out because of good solid research that abortion is harming the mental or physical well-being of womenand subsequently the fathers of those children as well and subsequently members of their extended familiesthen at some point we will have to ask as a society, 'if abortion is bad for all these people and causing all this damage, who is it good for?'" We all know the answer, she says. "The ...