It's hard to answer this question without knowing what he is actually reffering to. Because other than regret, he could be referring to abortion leading to infertility or breast cancer or even the fictional Post Abortion Syndrome.

On regret I remember reading that most women who have abortions do not regret their choice. I try to see if I can find a source for this.

Sounds like crap to me.

It sounds like either he or the people making the video he saw were assuming that the only women who were getting abortions were in their teens and 20's.

Women of all ages, from quite young to into their 40's get abortions for a variety of reasons. Therefore, women who got abortions in their past are not this homogeneous group of women just now becoming menopausal.

And what exactly does having a "crisis" mean? Sounds like hyperbole to me.

Send him to http://www.imnotsorry.net

Lot's of stories from women in their 40s and 50s (20s and 30s even) who don't regret their choice.

Sounds like he's just parroting anti-choice propaganda to me.

Anti-choicers often use the threat of "regret" to support abortion becoming illegal. But regret is simply a possible consequence of making a choice. Regret is a possible consequence of freedom. You can regret entering a particular career field because that's your choice. You can't regret getting raped, because that is not your choice. And you can certainly regret having an abortion (or raising a child or putting a child up for adoption, for that matter) because reproductive freedom exists in America (for the most part). The only way to free women from regret is to leave them without any options, and that's the paternalistic rhetoric that anti-choicers have been using for decades. They believe they're protecting women from possible psychological trauma, but that comes at the expense of our freedoms. I'd take the possibility of regret over the loss of autonomy any day. So it doesn't really make a difference if some or even most women regret having an abortion, because at least their bodies aren't government property.

tell him I am 42 years old and very grateful I was able to abort legally and safely when I did. I would have gone the illegal and unsafe route if I had to.

I am a mother- that would have left my child an orphan.

feel free to invite him to my live journal- we can communicate in more detail about how much easier abortions are than full term pregnancy, birthing, nursing and mothering.

I can also inform your ignorant male friend who is obviously very impressionable of exactly how I will teach women to abort if it become illegal in this country ever again.

I am very grateful for the abortions and even more grateful that we have the day after pill and better birth control than ever before.

Your male friend sounds like an idiot.

I added my link in case he has the guts to come by and ask a woman with experience how she feels.

I've seen this kind of stuff in the anti-abortion pubs that my sister is so fond of. I've always interpreted it as another anti-choice scare tactic.

That doesn't mean I don't think it's possible that some women who've had an abortion have had regrets, of different types. Everyone is different, and everyone's situation is unique. I have a friend who regrets that her (ex)boyfriend turned out to be such an asshole when she needed an abortion. My stepdaughter's mom told me that she had an abortion a couple years before trying to get pregnant with my stepdaughter. Then she had several miscarriages (which unfortunately did serious damage to their marriage) and started to wonder if she had missed out on her chance to have a kid. Both of these cases feature regrets, but the regrets are not a result of abortion per se. So I would tell your friend that everyone's situation is different, and no doubt there are regrets of different sorts surrounding some instances of abortion, but that doesn't say anything about abortion itself.

With any major life choice, there will be people who regret what they decided to do. I'm sure there are women out there who regret having one, but there a even more that are comfortable or happy with that decision and know it was the right one for them.

Perhaps you should direct him to some factual information about abortion, especially including statistics about who gets them. It definitely sounds like he has been indoctrinated by some anti-choice propaganda.

UnfunnyFeminist - WORD, ma'am.

I think it's important to acknowledge that some women may regret having abortions. To completely deny this, it seems to me, makes is much harder for them to seek the support and counsel they need. However, as said earlier this clearly does not mean that having an abortion will cause emotional turmoil and in no way does it mean that abortions should thus be illegalised.

nem i agree that it's more than plausible that some women regret it.

it's unreasonable to assume that every woman who has ever had an abortion in the history of the world is not regretful.

that said, i wonder what the stats are for women who were coerced into pregnancy, then gave the baby up for adoption and what THEIR feelings are now.

as someone who has experience with an abortion, i am definitely not regretful. all it did was make way for me to become a parent if and when i choose - and to provide that wanted child with every bit of love and care i am capable of.