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Reprinted by LifeSite News with written permission from The Washington Times

Colorado Activist Connects Abortion, Criminal Behaviour
Believes guilt from procedure can lead to illegal acts

Jennifer Kabbany
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Jail and abortion are two concepts that are rarely linked in the public mind, but Colorado
Springs activist Sydna Masse says they are evil twins.  After interviews with hundreds of
female inmates, she believes abortion can cause guilt-ridden women to commit crimes that land
them in jail.

The thought first occurred to her in 1994, she says, when she was visiting a friend in jail.
“I’ve had two, you know,” she says the inmate, Jennifer Reali, told her.  “Two what?”“Two
abortions, Sydna.  No one is ministering to us here. I believe that easily 69 percent to 80
percent of this prison’s population have had abortions.”

The two women had met because Reali had killed Mrs. Masse’s neighbor.  In an effort to forgive
and forget, Mrs. Masse had written a letter to Reali, who was serving a life sentence.  The
two began a pen-pal friendship and eventually met face to face.

Driving home that day, Mrs. “Masse pondered whether abortion could play a part in a woman’s
decision to commit crimes.  Soon after that encounter, Mrs. Masse founded Ramah International,
a Christian ministry that counsels female inmates who’ve had abortions.“I don’t think abortion and future crime is mysterious or something trying to be kept under the carpet,” she says.  “Abortion is just a piece of the puzzle, but it ‘s a strong piece.

We know it’s a common thread.  If you can commit murder once, you can do it again.” Most of
her information is anecdotal, as no surveys correlating abortion and female inmates are known
to have been done.

But Myfawny Sanders, director of the Women’s Pregnancy Center in Piorre, Ill., says she has
never met a woman in prison who doesn’t blame her incarceration partly on past abortions.
Mrs. Sanders, who works mainly with women with drug problems, says that because of “the
emotional pain caused by their past abortions, these girls took any measure necessary to get
their drug of choice,” then ended up in jail.

She has counseled hundreds of women through a 16-week, post-abortion support group at Logan
Correction Center in Lincoln, Ill.  “The prison officials asked us to do the program,” she
says.  “I think they felt there was a need, and we’ve been welcomed with open arms.”

Looking for ways to diffuse violence in women, some prisons allow Bible studies. For instance,
the Florence Crane and Camp Branch Correctional Facilities in Coldwater, Mich., offer 10-week
post-abortion Bible studies for female inmates. Counselor Laurie Velker says a nonscientific
survey she conducted among female inmates in Michigan prisons revealed that “their anger was
increased as a result of their abortions.  They said they could see an increase in violent
behavior after their abortions.  Mrs. Velker, who has counseled women in Michigan jails who
have had abortions, argues that abortion can affect a woman enough to twist her rational
reasoning.

Ten years of research in Canada found a strong correlation between child abuse and abortion.
In a report titled “Induced Abortion and its Relationship to Child Abuse and Neglect,” Dr.
Philip Ney of Victoria, British Columbia, reports that British Columbia and Ontario, the
provinces with the highest abortion rates, had the highest rate of child abuse.  The provinces
of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick had the lowest rates of abortion and child abuse.“If that instinctual restraint against killing or neglect of one’s young is pushed aside once,
it’s much more easy to do it again,” Dr. Ney said.

However, in 1989, the American psychological Association stated that post-abortion syndrome
does not exist.  The National Academy of Sciences had come to a similar conclusion in 1975.
In 1992, the magazine Professional psychology said an eight-year study showed past abortions
play a “negligible” role in women’s well-being.

Vicki Saporta, executive director for the national Abortion Federation, says significant
negative reactions after abortion are rare.  “Women who exhibit self-destructive behavior are
influenced by many other variables which have a greater impact on their behavior than whether
or not they had an abortion,” she says.  “A lot of groups are trying to put out misinformation
to dissuade women from making an informed decision, but conclusions should be based on credible
scientific information.”

But Dr. Philip Mango, a Catholic psychotherapist with 30 years experience in individual and
marital therapy, says ” any honest clinician or researcher will come to the conclusion that
large numbers of women who have had abortions, whether they believe in god or not, develop
self-destructive behaviours.  In some cases, he says this self-destructive behavior could
eventually lead a woman to prison.  “I wouldn’t say abortion is the cause of illegal
behaviour,” he says, “but it can be a major influence.” “Women may not see the connection
between their behavior and their abortions until they are allowed to speak about their
experience in a compassionate environment.”

Mrs. Masse says that she is one of those women, and that her 1981 abortion led to destructive
behavior.  Soon after, she found herself smoking marijuana every day and sleeping with
strangers she met at bars.  This new behavior she attributes to the abortion, although she
didn’t realize it a the time.  “It was a traumatic experience to say the least,” Mrs. Masse
says. “I remember my body battling with my mind.  I knew I would regret this for the rest of
my life.  I had done the worst thing, not as a Christian, but as a mother,” Mrs. Masse says.“I was angry, and it took me years to say it had anything to do with the abortion.”

While Mrs. Masse, Mrs. Velker and Mrs. Sanders all talk freely about the women they counsel,
some jails don’t care to broach the subject.  Larry Todd, spokesman for the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice, declined to comment about the female inmates in its massive system.
Officials at Broward Correctional Institution in Florida didn’t respond to repeated written
and verbal requests.  “That’s a sensitive subject, and you can’t force people to talk about
it,” Mr. Todd says, adding that medical records are not public.

Mrs. Masse scoffs at such excuses.  “They ask you when you first go into jail how many times
you’ve been pregnant and how many of these pregnancies were live births,” she says.  “Prisons
have the information, and I don’t know why they won’t discuss it.”