I’ve been giving Gov. Blunt a pretty hard time lately, not that he doesn’t deserve it – with his unwavering support for human cloning research. But I suppose I should give him credit when he stands on the right side of life issues. He is consistently anti-abortion and has done some good things in that area as Governor. Now he has launched an investigation into the effects of abortion on women.

The Gov.’s Task Force on the Impact of Abortion on Women convened last week in Blunt’s Capitol office without any of the publicity and promotion that usually accompanies groups on gubernatorial missions…

“This is a very informal group of good people who believe in advancing the cause of life and believe that we should minimize the impact of abortion on society,” Blunt said…

“I certainly would begin with the presumption that abortion has a negative impact on Missouri children, Missouri women, Missouri men, because it’s harmful to society,” Blunt said.

With that framework, the task force still intends to hunt for “truthful, honest information” from researchers, said Cindy Province, a co-founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture-Missouri, who was asked by Blunt’s chief of staff to help enlist task force members.

“We’re trying to get good evidence about the effect of abortion on women and make decisions about what the state can do to help women who find themselves in the situation of an unplanned pregnancy,” said Province, a nurse at St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights.

The group is examining the physical, emotional, social and economic effects of abortion, she said.

Leaders of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign also praise the Governor:

“The evidence for the devastation wrought by abortion is everywhere,” said Georgette Forney, co-founder of the SNMAC. “Thousands of women in our network alone can give full accounts of both the physical and lasting emotional trauma caused by so called ‘safe and legal’ abortion. Governor Blunt is doing a great service not only for his state, but for women all over the country.”

It is inevitable that abortion will have a negative impact on a woman if not physically or emotionally, then spiritually. As Mother Teresa told the world in 1994:

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.

If she never confronts what she has done by directly killing her own child, her ability to love herself and others may be greatly diminished, if not permanently damaged.