http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050506.html

Abortion Kills Your Sex Life Says UK Doctor in Times Column

By Hilary White

LONDON, May 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the May 2 instalment of his
regular health feature in The Times, Dr. Thomas Stuttaford responded to a
reader who complained of a loss of interest in sex following an abortion.
"Though my boyfriend and I agreed it was the right thing to do, I feel
guilty and I've gone off sex," wrote the questioner. Dr. Stuttaford
responded by saying that loss of libido after an abortion is "so common that
it can almost be said to be expected".

Asked if the feelings would pass, Stuttaford wrote, "It is possible, but by
no means inevitable, that the changes this will have wrought in the way you
feel about a future together may have irretrievably undermined your
relationship."

Indeed, Dr. Stuttaford observed that in "years of experience with patients"
has "reinforced the teaching I received in my early medical life that even
the most ardent affair may not survive an abortion, although both partners
often remain good friends. Frequently, there has been too much emotion
around, even if there have been no spoken recriminations. The shadow of the
decision to have the termination, and any doubts one or other may have had
about this deep down in their psyche, means that sooner or later they will
be tempted to start again with, as if it were, a clean slate."

Stuttaford referred to a study, authored "about 15 years ago," that he said
showed that although "nearly all" women suffer feelings of guilt and grief
following abortion, the effects usually passed within a month.

"My own opinion," he writes, "is that the American research workers were
unduly sanguine in expecting women to jettison guilt and overcome their
feelings of loss - the grief response - within just a month."

Statistical research by the Elliot Institute shows that, in many cases, the
emotional effects of abortion are still discernable eight weeks after an
abortion. In one study, two months after their abortions, 44 percent of
women complained of nervous disorders, 36 percent had experienced sleep
disturbances, 31 percent had regrets about their decision and 11 percent had
been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor.

But Dr. Stuttaford quickly assures his questioner that "neither of you
should assume blame or feel guilty."

The Times health feature was followed by comments from Suzi Godson, a
journalist and a graphic designer who has recently published a book titled,
"The Sex Book" who exhorted readers, "Be kind to yourself, and your partner,
and be grateful that you live in a country where abortion is both safe and
legal."

In her comments Godson, like most supporters of abortion, dismisses
post-abortive stress syndrome as a "pseudo-scientific condition" put forward
by the pro-life movement. But loss of interest in sex is, as Stuttaford
admits, is a well-documented result of abortion. Godson points out that the
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has concluded that abortion in
young women "might be associated with mental health problems" and that the
Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends updating abortion information
leaflets to include mention of the risk of depression.

The Elliot Institute study showed that thirty to fifty percent of women
experience sexual dysfunction, of both short and long duration, beginning
immediately after their abortions.

Fr. Timothy Finigan, a Catholic priest and founder of the Association of
Priests for the Gospel of Life, commented on the column, saying that Britain
is "a country where abortion is presented as 'safe'," and where possible
consequences of abortion are seldom mentioned to women.

"Where this life has been crushed by abortion, it is surely only natural and
to be expected that the urge to engage in the same life-giving activity
should be muted," he observed.

But for Fr. Finigan, the woman was asking Dr. Stuttaford the wrong question.
It is not loss of libido that is the danger, "it is the secular
sanctification of libido that has brought about the destruction of so many
millions of human lives."

"Nevertheless it is another feature in the whole sorry story of routinely
available abortion. I wonder how many women are told about this 'expected'
phenomenon before they consent to an abortion?"