A self-confessed ‘abortion addict’ has written a book about how she had 15 abortions in 17 years because of a “controlling” husband who didn’t want children.
One pro-lifer said this shows how “abortion is part of a very sad story for women”.
Although the author remains pro-abortion, she admits: “My story is a perversion of both maternal desire and abortion, framed by a lawful procedure that I abused.”
Irene Vilar’s 17-year cycle of pregnancies and abortions began when she met and married a 50-year-old literary professor, Pedro Cuperman, at 16 years old.
In her book, Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict, Mrs Vilar writes: “By the time I lay in an abortion clinic waiting for the procedure to begin, I would feel nothing but disgust and shame.
“When I left the clinic, I felt a calm respite, surrender. I always said to myself then ‘This has to end'”, she added.
Mrs Vilar continued: “A moment came when not being pregnant was enough motivation for wanting to be pregnant. Getting pregnant began to be simply a habit.
“If I wasn’t pregnant, something was wrong, more wrong than what was already wrong. I believe this habit formed with abortion number 9 and pregnancy number 10.”
Charmaine Yoest, president of pro-life group Americans United for Life, said: “It really underscores everything we always say in the pro-life movement – that abortion is part of a very sad story for women.”
When Mrs Vilar was just eight years old she witnessed her mother committing suicide and two of her brothers later became heroin addicts.
Commenting on the book, Mrs Vilar said: “Women have written memoirs about their anorexia or their bulimia, and they explain the best that they can what motivated their addiction or their behaviour. I try to do the same in this book.”
The author is now a literary agent and re-married in 2003. She is raising their two daughters and two teenage stepchildren in Denver, Colorado.
She said: “Motherhood has made me feel accountable”, but added, “It hasn’t made me less pro-choice.”
The manuscript for Impossible Motherhood was rejected more than 50 times, before eventually being published by Other Press.