Group unveils plan to stop abortion abuse of women forced to terminate pregnancies
The head of a pro-life pregnancy center group behind an initiative to end coerced abortion called on society to navigate the issue as it did the #MeToo movement by providing women with a space to share their stories, adding that the days of normalizing abortion abuse are over.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Brandi Swindell, the founder and CEO of Stanton Healthcare, promised that there is a “day of reckoning” and a “day of hope” coming for women. The pro-life advocate called for people to take abortion abuse seriously, as society did with sexual abuse during the #MeToo movement, which advocated for bad actors to face accountability for sexual misconduct.
“People agree abuse is bad, but they tend to ignore the abortion side of it because the abortion industry has indoctrinated people to believe it’s a ‘fundamental right,’ and you don’t want to say or do anything as a woman to tarnish the concept of abortion on demand,” Swindell told CP.
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“Well, those days are over,” she asserted. “Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry need to stop normalizing abortion abuse, and they need to stop enabling abortion abuse. And as a society, we have to stand with women.”
Swindell said America has what she described as an “abortion abuse problem,” citing a May 2023 study published in the medical journal Cureus. The study, part of the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute’s Unwanted Abortion Studies, analyzed a national sample of 1,000 women, finding that one in four women described their abortions as unwanted or coerced.
Stanton Healthcare is launching a new initiative and website to combat abortion abuse. At the time of this CP interview, Swindell said the site is still under construction, but added it would launch within the next few weeks. The website will include a feature that allows women who have experienced abortion abuse to submit their stories.
The latest initiative to combat abortion abuse also includes helping survivors find justice, according to Swindell. The Stanton Healthcare CEO shared that the organization has 2,000 affidavits of documented abortion cases that they're looking into.
Two of the women who submitted affidavits are former clients of Stanton Healthcare, according to Swindell. The Stanton Healthcare CEO told CP she had permission to share their stories.
One of the women came to Stanton Healthcare for an ultrasound and began crying, feeling as if she had to have an abortion because her boyfriend had threatened to shoot himself. The woman told the Stanton Healthcare team that she had an abortion scheduled at Planned Parenthood the next day.
As Swindell recalled, the Stanton team intervened, helping the woman obtain a police escort to move from her boyfriend’s place to her sister’s house. The woman ultimately ended up choosing life for her baby, according to Swindell, who said that baby is now around 15 years old.
Another case involves a girl from Florida whose father and stepmother forced her to have an abortion while she was visiting them. The pro-life leader believes the forced abortion happened around 12 years ago.
The girl lived in Idaho with her mother, who was supportive of the pregnancy, according to Swindell. Under the impression her father and stepmother were taking her to the airport, the girl got into the car with them, but they took her to Planned Parenthood instead for the abortion appointment they had scheduled.
“In fact, we were able to get her medical records from that Planned Parenthood, and the notes by the medical staff read, 'How is client doing?' and it said, 'Good,’” Swindell stated. “And then it said in the notes, 'Bouts of crying.'”
The pro-life advocate questioned how a facility could say a woman is fine if she’s crying, noting that abortion is unlike any other procedure. Swindell called for improved state and federal laws to protect women and their children from abortion abuse and for society to acknowledge the harm it causes women.
”Society has to accept that abortion trauma is real. We want to speak directly to women who have endured abuse, and if you are a victim or a survivor of abortion abuse, you are not alone,” Swindell said about her organization’s latest mission.
“We believe you, and we stand with you, and we're not going to abandon your experiences. And as a society, we need to end abortion abuse by treating it as the criminal act that it is,” the pro-life leader declared.
Swindell provided more details about the partners helping Stanton Healthcare with its project, citing the American Center for Law and Justice and the Justice Foundation as collaborators. The Stanton Healthcare CEO said that five attorneys are assisting with the project; however, at the time of the interview, Swindell revealed that a sixth might join.
The advocate added that Michael New, senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, is helping Stanton Healthcare on the research front by analyzing abortion-related studies and polls. In addition, the pro-life leader said her organization is working with pro-life caucuses in the House and Senate.
Regarding the 2024 presidential election, Swindell acknowledged that some candidates have questioned whether they should talk about abortion since it's a “hot topic” in the political landscape. Swindell said she thinks any candidate, regardless of whether they’re a Republican or a Democrat, should have to answer if they condemn abortion abuse.
“And second: ‘Will you support federal legislation that treats abortion abuse as the crime that it is?’ This is where we can find common ground,” Swindell added. “The moment has come; we have to address this.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
