As a mental health professional and avid observer of human nature, I can’t help but look at the psychological underpinnings of such lewd and aberrant behavior. Since the fight to keep abortion legal was front and center, it certainly makes one consider what role abortion may have played in the psychological states of the speakers and participants. Clearly many in the crowd had participated in abortion in one way or another. Some have had abortions, some have lost siblings to abortion, some paid for or encouraged the abortions of others.

Abortion rights advocates argue the need for abortion citing a plethora of things that a woman cannot do — handle the stress, raise a child on her own, balance motherhood with school or career etc. Ironically, these are the very things they claim that every woman should do. They assume her inability to control her sexual urges or to choose suitable male companions that will respect her and step up and take responsibility should an ill-timed pregnancy occur. Showing no confidence in a woman’s actual abilities to handle challenges, abortion is the ultimate answer of despair that they promote. Short of standing by their sisters, abortion advocates proffer the easy solution that requires less of everyone — including them — but leaves the woman isolated and abandoned ultimately. They then deny her pain she should dare to express it.

Abortion advocates argue abortion should be safe and legal and that there are few, if any, negative side effects to the procedure - neither physically and certainly emotionally. Those of us in the mental health field who have counseled men and women hurt by abortion would assert the opposite. Abortion hurts those who have them as well as those who participate in them. In addition it hurts the culture that permits them. Sold as a quick solution to an unwanted pregnancy, abortion becomes the root of more problems than the unwitting participants could ever begin to fathom. For many clients who present with other problems, such as depression, anxiety, relationship conflicts, eating disorders, and addictions, tracing those issues back to an earlier abortion is not uncommon.

Now, of course, there are many who would argue — often right up in my face — that they had an abortion and they’re fine. I wouldn’t argue with them. Perhaps they feel it didn’t affect them and maybe it didn’t ... but I do have my doubts. After an abortion there are generally four ways of reacting: 1) with relief, 2) with sadness, 3) with guilt, and 4) with anger. Most have a combination of feelings. Many do feel relief initially. A pressing and urgent problem has been solved. It’s yesterday again ... like it never happened. Only it did. That’s the reality they can’t escape. Many bury it — deep. But all too frequently it floats up to the surface at unguarded moments. Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, workaholism, and dramatic relationships provide relief and distraction to keep unwanted feelings and memories at bay. But each comes with its own cost.

After 44 years of legalized abortion, if it were the boon to women’s rights that proponents purport it to be, then why so much anger, hatred, and unrest? If abortion evens out the inequities women suffer in society, then where is the peace they should evidence? One has to marvel at the increased degradation of women so prevalent in pornography, in entertainment, and in musical lyrics today. And yet instead of denouncement, it’s the supporters of “women’s rights” who celebrate such trash. Madonna, at nearly 60 years of age continues to sexualize her identity in a vain attempt to remain relevant. She promised sexual favors to men who voted for Hillary. How does she square that with her indignation about Donald Trump’s vulgar comments years ago? The schizophrenic messaging is simply dizzying.

It’s 44 years after Roe v Wade and 23% of American women are on some form of anti-depressant medication. Millions more are on anti-anxiety meds. Divorce has left more women in poverty than ever before in our history. Anger and division are ripping the fabric of America. The young are left to wonder how such freedom can make them feel so trapped.

In contrast to the call by God to be fruitful and multiply, the so-called “women’s rights movement”, or more accurately, the pro-abortion movement’s battle cry stands in stark contrast: Be fruitless and divide, divide, divide. Climate change, Black Lives Matter, resistance to a border wall, LGBT rights, transgender rights, hatred for Donald Trump and more competed for prominence in this Mix Master of wrath. What was promoted by the media as a unified march for “women’s equality”, wound up seeming more a disjointed assortment of grievance mongers attempting to latch onto the teats of a mother whose milk has already poisoned them.

Although the past cannot be undone, the pain and sorrow of abortion can be healed. The rancor and hatred displayed at the Women’s March indicates that it is not the case for so many women caught in the grips of its despair. Understanding this factor that might be underlying their rage can help us to recognize the need for prayer and mercy as we attempt to restore a culture of life and peace; a culture in which women may reclaim their honor instead of plunging from their pedestals into the dung heap of “equality” that has robbed them of their inherent dignity. They deserve better than that.

Arguing the issues will do little to change minds. This spirit of division truly can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.