Support After Abortion announces new virtual men’s healing initiative
NORTH PORT, FL—Technology meets mental health in a new online program designed to help men who struggle emotionally after a partner’s abortion.
Support After Abortion, a non-profit which is building a national network of virtual healing options, launched a weekly Zoom meeting that merges anonymous group therapy practices with modern networking technology for men who feel hidden by the politics and cultural perceptions of abortion.
“We developed Base Camp to address the realities of men’s experience and capture the success model of recovery groups,” said Greg Mayo, who lost two children to abortion and leads the weekly calls. “The Zoom medium gives us the ability to welcome these men where they are, which is important because they often feel like they are alone in their struggles. Worse, many have been told their opinion doesn’t matter, so they wonder if they are allowed to feel the isolation, depression, and shame that often come from after-abortion challenges.”
Base Camp was developed in light of Support After Abortion’s nationally representative men’s survey data and supported by thousands of calls to the group’s After Abortion Help Line. More than seven in 10 men whose partner had an abortion reported adverse personal changes; and 78% of pro-choice men said they sought someone to talk to or could have used help after a partner’s abortion. But just 18% of men knew where to find after-abortion healing support.
Men may participate in Base Camp at any stage of their healing journey, and everyone is anonymous, said Mayo. “Participants frequently keep their cameras off and identities secret. The option to be anonymous is critical to creating opportunities for vulnerability, which creates a better healing experience for everyone because healing isn’t a one-and-done proposition.”
Base Camp is already impacting men. Anecdotes shared anonymously and with permission include the following:
- “I’ve been to therapy and different types of meetings but never really talked about the abortion.”
- It’s about healing ourselves. There’s pain that is felt and it’s real and it needs to be dealt with.
- I shouldn’t have to fight to prove my own feelings of pain. And I won’t do it anymore.
- I know I have to find healing and stop trying to medicate the pain and run from it.
- “It was a relief to be told and, more importantly, to accept that I had been forgiven. What was challenging was talking about the taking of another life…my unborn child. So I stuffed it and that was a huge mistake. It just festered and got infected until I got it out.
- “I want to share my story but I have to be able to protect my anonymity.” – participant with camera off
- “She wanted the baby. I didn’t want to get married. But after I went into a deep suicidal depression. No one told me the abortion would affect me like that. It was supposed to solve the problem.”
Men struggling after abortion may participate in Base Camp on Tuesdays at 12 p.m. Eastern. Men who cannot participate in Base Camp may anonymously contact Support After Abortion for 1-on-1 counseling and care here.