PBA411H: The Psychology of Killing

Overview/Description:

In recent decades, there has been a lot of research done on the psychology of killing - how human beings cope with the stress of killing other human beings. We'll apply this to abortion, looking at the experiences of abortion providers in light of what we know about the psychology of killing.

• bpas debate: 26:45 “fade to black”

• Dr. Willie Parker 3:20 (sterilized distanced language)
• Dr. Fraser Fellows: describe the procedure
• Dr. Lisa Harris
• never, never: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/full-abortions-shown-on-spanish-television-first-in-history
• Former Abortionists
  • Dr. Kathi Aultman 2:20-7:10?
  • Dr. Levantio - doubts

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ia9KeyCc0#

• Gregg Cunningham notes from Tomboy
  • https://www.mixcloud.com/radioteopoli/june-13-2013-stephanie-gray-of-the-ccbr-presents-the-psychology-of-killing-with-gregg-cunningham/
  • podcast from July/Aug 2018 on Stanford prison experiment and what motivates people to kill, the Nazi SS “for a good cause” rather than “because you have no choice” response (audio clip)
• Lt. Col. Dave Grossman:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_r5UB55Ch0
  • http://www.killology.com/article_onkilling.htm
  • http://www.killology.com/publications.htm#articles
• Theology / Moral Injury
  • Hauerwas, War and the American Difference, , Part 2 Chapter 5
  • this is huge
    • moral injury and the post-abortive syndrome
    • deep aversion to killing our own species, nevermind our own offspring
    • identity questions: “I'm not the good person I thought I was” (Timothy Kudos?)
• http://www.lifenews.com/2013/09/23/abortionist-we-give-parents-of-aborted-babies-photos-to-remember-their-birth/
• Survivor guilt: http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/blog/2013/10/23/killing-our-relatives
• Fellows debates
  • “I'm just a technician”
  • SG: Can you describe the procedure? Fellows: Well, first the woman calls the receptionist…
• Working in the abortion industry – effects on abortion providers, etc.
  • JVM paraphrase “There are 3 kinds of abortion providers…”
    • Some who don't know what they're doing, and they stop when they actually see the violence of abortion – Nathanson, Abby Johnson, etc. seeing abortion
      • “Fetus dreams” https://www.endthekilling.ca/blog/2014/07/15/having-fetus-dreams
      • https://www.npr.org/2018/01/11/577104446/the-anti-abortion-group-thats-urging-clinic-workers-to-quit-their-jobs
        • “[Annette Lancaster] says the job began to make her feel 'dark and morbid,' and she was troubled by the way she says she and some of the other workers referred to fetal remains. 'I just now started being able to use the deep freezer in my home by going through [therapy], because we used to call the freezer the 'nursery' … And we used to think that was funny,' she says.”
    • Some who have “consciences congealed over with blood” – I think that Fellows may fall into this category… https://www.endthekilling.ca/blog/2013/02/06/late-term-abortionist-and-banality-evil
    • Some who have a competing set of graphic images in their heads: abortionists who got involved because they saw the gruesome effect of back-alley abortions on women. This number is apparently dwindling though: https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2010/11/20/a_young_abortion_doctors_dilemma.html
      • “Those who followed were trained by the pioneers, who relayed horror stories of hospital wards full of women rendered permanently infertile, or with deadly infections and perforated uteruses from illegal abortions…James's generation has less tangible reasons to be abortion doctors, having lived much of their life with it being legal in Canada. For them, the sense they are saving lives is not as strong. They have to look deeper for reasons to join — and endure — a tough profession. That is why there are fewer of them.”

Moral Injury https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_injury re: moral injury (as a subset of PTSD): example of combat vet facing horrors of little girl killed, burying the traumatic memories, but the memories re-surfacing when he was triggered by similar events in the news. Part of his path to healing was helping other people get to safety (especially a little girl) when he couldn't do so before. Some symmetry with SNMAC: moral injury of harming/failing to protect child, but some part of the healing process can involve trying to protect other children from meeting the same fate. Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/first-person-trevor-lewis-1.7190960

new academic paper on abortionists becoming pro-life advocates after being traumatized by killing: “Wounded Healers: Abortion and the Affective Practices of Pro-Life Health Care” https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jhmas/jrad027/7174357?redirectedFrom=fulltext behind a paywall at the moment, can only see abstract