Research into the aftermath of abortion is revealing why it isn’t simply a surgical procedure that can be likened to other forms of surgery.

Vicki Thorn, head of The National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation & Healing, conducted extensive research on the biological aspect of abortion, some of which was posted by the National Institutes of Health. Thorn conveys to OneNewsNow the results of her research, which found that women carry the biological footprints of the babies they conceived.

“Women carry cells from every child they ever conceive the rest of their lives, and they stay in the body,” states Thorn. “Those cells remain in different places and do different things.” In an interview with Chicago Catholic, she identifies them as “microchimeric cells.”

Thorn remarks that the NIH also noted women who have miscarriages or abortions actually carry more of these cells than the women who have carried their babies full-term, proving such a loss is impossible to forget.

Thorn

“Many women go years before the emotional impact surfaces,” says Thorn. “Some cover the pain with alcohol or drugs. Then, there’s something that triggers it, and there’s that sense of loss.”

Thorn goes on to describe the women’s confusion because they were originally told that the abortion was a simple medical procedure with no consequences – akin to having a bunion removed perhaps, or an appendix.

Finally, Thorn suggests that this biological stamp might be a missing piece of the abortion puzzle that deserves further research. It also brought up the related question of why men feel a similar sense of loss after an abortion as well.

As well as being the founder of Project Rachel, Thorn is an adjunct assistant professor of psychology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family at the Catholic University of America.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14