About the Elliot Institute and How You Can Help
More Than 25 Years of Pro-Woman/Pro-Life Leadership
In 1988, Dr. David Reardon founded the Elliot Institute in order to conduct original research on the effects of abortion on women, men, families and society. His first study was funded by a few donations from friends and family, and in the early years he did everything himself on a volunteer basis, squeezed in between his “regular” job and raising a family.
Eventually Dr. Reardon was able to devote himself full time to Elliot Institute work, and hired his first full-time staff member in 1997.
From those very small beginnings, we have expanded to three permanent staff members and periodically have supplemented our staff with research assistants, interns and volunteers. We also work remotely with researchers from various parts of the United States and Canada to prepare, write and publish original research.
With a lot of hard work and the help of our friends, we are now one of the leading organizations researching the impact of abortion. In addition, we serve as a major resource for organizations around the world who are concerned about protecting the rights of women and their unborn children. Our mission also includes educating others about abortion’s injustice, trauma, and risk to all involved, and raising awareness of the urgent need for meaningful support and healing.
This mission has led us to undertake numerous efforts in the areas of research, education, and advocacy. Click here to find out about some of our recent projects.
You can get the latest news, information and free resources from the Elliot Institute by joining our free email list (just enter your name and email address in the form at the right).
Healing Hearts, Saving Lives
We Are Making A Difference!
Here’s what some of our supporters are saying:
“Thank you so much for doing this advertising campaign. I truly wish this had been around when I had my abortions many years ago. I am just sitting here crying, thinking, ‘If only …’ It may be too late for me but I know with all my heart you will reach many, many women. This is so necessary and life saving. Thank you again.”Jane, Colorado
“I just want to say I am so thankful for your web site. I have a friend who was considering abortion so I sent her to your web site. She called me around two in the morning, crying. Anyway, it changed her mind. I’ll be praying for your ministry. Thanks so much!” — Jenny, Idaho
“Thank you for your 20 years of service to our nation by documenting and exposing how legal abortion has been devastating to women, and has significantly increased domestic violence to the point that homicide has tragically become the leading cause of death for pregnant women. … Your invaluable work serves to educate the public about the need to assist desperate women with the financial and moral support they so often lack and need …” — Elizabeth, New York
“I am currently studying to receive my Master’s in Social Work and I have used the studies conducted and promoted by the Elliot Institute countless times in the past year. As a pro-life, pro-woman, faithful Catholic, I seem to be in the minority in the field of social work and have found it difficult to find and use studies that illustrate the truth about abortion. I have geared all of my papers in my classes toward the detrimental effects of abortion, as well as related issues. The Elliot Institute has been an immense help to me as a source of information and reliable studies. I encourage you to keep up the wonderful work!” –Katherine, Texas
“Thank you for enlightening me so widely about the abortion crisis in our world.” — Peter, Australia
“I had worked through intensive healing during the first two years after my abortion. Now, seven years later, I am happily married to a wonderful man and we have a beautiful daughter. But abortion is something that always stays with you. Although I don’t feel it as intensely or as often, there are times when pain comes flooding back to me. At these times, I go on your web site and/or read [your email newsletter] and it helps me so much. It reminds me that I am not alone and that I am ok. Thank you so much. You are angels sent from heaven.” — Anonymous
“Your ad is very persuasive. Just the right tone, too. I’ve emailed your ad to pro-life state leaders and suggested that they email/air/publish it before the election. I’ve also emailed it to my family, pro-life email list and the Post Abortion Forum members. You are such a great resource for us in the trenches!” — Sharon, Minnesota
My family and I feel a stronger need to be pro-active for advocating LIFE now more than ever. My daughter [is doing] a short film on the detrimental effects that abortion has on mothers. Your e-mail and new campaign is exactly the approach she is going for. Thank you for sending your updates and e-mails, they are a great resource for her project and inspiring! — Kirk, UK
18 thoughts on “About the Elliot Institute and How You Can Help”
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I had an abortion and I think that the chance of causing these many effects upon myself is much less selfish then bringing a child into this world knowing I couldn’t care for it properly. In the end, none of you prolifers are there for the child once it’s born, they are the only ones who must live with this decision, not even their parents have to. For the record, no I wouldn’t consider adoption because if you look at statistics of kids around the world waiting to be adopted, well there’s enough already. So here’s an idea! Why don’t you try forming a research company dedicated to why idiots keep forcing people to have babies without anyone lined up to adopt them? Have you adopted any of these kids you’re apparently saving?
Dear Katie,
I pray you never have any negative effects from your abortion. At the same time, I’m sure you can appreciate the fact that many women do and that it is important for them to be given support and understanding along the path to healing.
Regarding your accusation that pro-lifers are not there to help after a baby is born, that is simply not true. There are many ministries to help families and their children, and countless pro-lifers willing to adopt or offer their homes to single mothers and their young children while they finish their educations and find jobs. It’s true that there are lots of children in the world who need adoptive parents, it is also true that there are more willing to adopt babies than there are babies available.
Please try to be more generous in you judgment of other people’s interests and motives. No one is trying to force people to have babies. Once a woman is pregnant, she already has a baby. At that point, there is simply the question of whether the baby will survive until birth. And as women who have had both miscarriages and abortions frequently report, even if the baby is not live born, there is still a feeling of relationship and loss associated with that baby. If you are not feeling such a loss, that’s fine! But many women do.
Again, I truly pray that everything in your life will work toward your good and that of your loved ones and that you will not suffer the kinds of problems other women have.
No one is trying to force women to have babies? What world do you live in?
You people are sick. A bunch of pro-birthers masquerading as a support group for women that rightfully choose to have an abortion when you really want to guilt and shame them and make them believe it was a mistake. Where are your testimonials on women that better off and happy they had an abortion? There’s plenty and those experiences might help women look forward to live after abortion.
Even the pro-choice American Psychological Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion agreed that abortion contributes to mental health problems in “some women.” They give no estimate of the percentage other than to say is is less than 50 percent of women having abortions who have clinically significant mental illness. They did, however, give a list of risk factors identifying the women at greatest risk of post-abortion problems, a list that includes more than 50% of all abortion patients.
There are countless testimonies from women who describe how abortion produced more problems than benefits in their lives. Please feel free to respond with a link to testimonies of women who believe their abortions made them happier. We will publish your link for those interested in that side of the story.
Obviously, our website is mostly a resource for those who have struggled with a past abortion and want to see if their experience is shared by others and if there is a way to heal. Women who are happy with their past abortions are unlikely to seek or find this site. If they do (are you one?), they should not be surprised to see it is focused on the negative effects of abortion. Hopefully, they (and you) will accept and understand that not everyone is happy after their abortions and that many feel they were pressured and deceived into undergoing unwanted and harmful abortions against their maternal desires and moral beliefs. Defending the liberty of women to have wanted abortions should not require concealing the problem of unwanted abortions.
You are the worst type of people who pick and choose data to fit your agenda and ignore anything that would possibly counter your argument. If you really cared about women’s health you should also give information on how the rate of death due to unassisted abortions has risen due to your efforts in making abortions illegal. You can see that effect in third world countries where abortions are not available. You people are despicable.
Im guessing you also think if a person would die if they had the child they should just die with the child. I see nothing on your site to take anything like that into consideration.
I would suggest you read this article here: http://afterabortion.org/2014/doctors-abortion-not-necessary-to-save-mothers-lives/
The evidence from doctors suggests that a better course of action would be treatment or, if necessary, an early delivery to save the mother’s life (even if it costs the life of her baby). Even an abortion provider stated:
“If a woman with a serious illness- heart disease, say, or diabetes- gets pregnant, the abortion procedure may be as dangerous for her as going through pregnancy … with diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, even breast cancer, the chance that pregnancy will make the disease worse is no greater that the chance that the disease will either stay the same or improve. And medical technology has advanced to a point where even women with diabetes and kidney disease can be seen through a pregnancy safely by a doctor who knows what he’s doing. We’ve come a long way since my mother’s time. … The idea of abortion to save the mothers’ life is something that people cling to because it sounds noble and pure — but medically speaking, it probably doesn’t exist. It’s a real stretch of our thinking.”
— Don Sloan, M.D. and Paula Hartz. Choice: A Doctor’s Experience with the Abortion Dilemma. New York: International Publishers 2002 P 45-46
Do you have a link for any studies showing that deaths due to illegal abortions are on the rise? There are repeated studies linking abortion to higher maternal death rates, as mentioned in the article above. Further, studies of the impact of abortion from around the world have found that countries with restrictive abortion laws tend to have lower maternal death rates, and that good medical care and other factors, not the legal status of abortion, is what saves lives. You can find more on this here:
http://afterabortion.org/2014/why-legalizing-abortion-worldwide-wont-save-womens-lives/
Illegal Abortion Myths:
http://afterabortion.org/2011/the-truth-about-back-alley-abortions/
http://afterabortion.org/2012/anniversary-of-deaths/
I would like to know where can I find the book “Victims and Victors”, besides Amazon because they can not get it to where I live.
I’m doing a research about abortion and it would help me a lot.
Thanks
Aborted babies get no closure…
I had the abortion on the 3rd of June 2011.
I was forced to.
I am 40 and I very much wanted the baby, I prayed many years that God would give me this child.
Not a day goes by that I do not despair, regret and struggle to pretend to be myself.
I don’t even know who or what I am supposed to be anymore. My existing children do not recognise whats left of me
But I cant because when my 11 week 1 day baby was ripped out of me, my humanity died with her. As though we were animals, and those whom forced me have left me alone drowning in her precious blood. My darling baby, only i loved you and now I cannot live without you.
I should have died on that table with her..Im left with the unseen scar of an amputated soul. When i was being pressured and manipulated my main concern as would my baby feel pain, so I did an online search, its all a blur but all the sites ive found now were no where to be seen then, I read somewhere that they dont have their nervous system complete within the 1st trimester. I did see the late term abortion and how horrific the execution is , how they partially deliver an innocent baby then stick a needle in the back of its head and I was afraid if I waited longer my baby would be executed the same way.
I was abandoned during the abortion by who could have saved our baby.
With all the chaos and family turmoil the last sonogram I took before the abortion was at 9 weeks and it wasnt recognisable although the heartbeat was strong, but showed the baby looking fish like. I did not expect that only two weeks later my precious love had blossomed into a perfect human being, she had limbs and she lay there with her arms up in surrender, the only movement was her trusting heart beating. Unaware the life God gave her was to end within the hour.
The abortionist seemed unhuman and monster like, his eyes were hollow.
I asked him to give me my baby so i could bury her as in our religion, he said he cant because she gets sucked into a machiene in parts and he cant give me her parts. I asked him to remove my uterus with her complete inside so she wouldnt be cut up and at least I could bury her with a part of mommy with her. He looked at me as though I was mad and refused and moved along the process faster.
I numbed myself before the general anesthetic and wished I wouldnt wakeup.
But I did and I did not expect the emotional aftermath.
No one talks about that. Maybe if people knew, if Post Abortion Stress was more publicized then families and husbands wouldnt force expectant mothers to abort their babies, because there are two victims of abortion. Maybe if this knowledge was known, maybe although i doubt it it would have made a difference in my case, but just maybe my baby would be alive today if they knew killing her would kill me too.
After the abortion i became obsessed with wanting to know more and I joined a abortion support forum. You would be surprised how so many of us say we didnt expect the after destruction of abortion.
Regardless of those women whom said it was their choice to women like myself whom were forced, regardless of race or religion we ALL suffer our amputated motherhoods.
I also became obsessed with needing to know exactly what my baby went through and I found youtube link to silent scream its a live abortion on ultrasound.
The baby was a few days older than my dead baby.
How can anyone say that it doesnt feel when the ultrasound baby was kicking and jumping to get away from the vaccum, even its heartbeat went up in panic.
THAT IS A HUMAN REACTION!
Its the earliest ever documented execution.
Why isnt this discussed more! Or is it and I dont know yet.
Why was that abortion footage done in an old outdated ultrasound, why not have it documented and shown in 3d ultrasound imaging to show the reality of how barbaric we have become as a society.
I also found footage INSIDE the ulterus like a normal video or the type of camera they use in larascopy and the baby was my babys age and it was so detailed and showed the baby had rooting reflex and tried to suck its umbilical cord and thumb.
That is a 12 week baby that CAN feel.
Why do they claim they dont feel.
My baby was killed the same way but i didnt know.
She died a horrible painful death.
Why doesnt pro life take larascope video to show a live abortion to the world.
This is what will shock people into reality.
Maybe some babys life can be spared because of it.
Im writing this so that you can use my example and my suggestion to save other babies lives, at least then my darling girl wouldnt have died in vail.
Hand in hand, a couple strolled along the jetty. It was dark. The woman felt irritated because of a tiny stone in her shoe. Her beloved fiancé’ slipped off her shoe and knocked it gently against the wooden boards of the jetty. The tiny stone fell into the sea. Without a care, the couple continued along their path.
The stone was worth much more than they would ever know. It was their precious diamond, dislodged from its place of honour on her engagement ring, to be carried and discarded as worthless.
O carry me even in discomfort
Even in pain
And I will be brought into the light
Where my beauty is revealed
In hidden places you can’t see my beauty
But bear me for a time
For I am priceless
I am precious
I am the unborn child
And all of you were once like me
For a moment of your journey
But you have made it past that place
Through time you gained your worth
Your voice now loud and clear
Tiny diamond where is your voice?
In darkness you were unacknowledged, unloved
Yet you were beautiful
Like a diamond in the dark
Its beauty concealed
Its voice unheard
I met Dr Ddavid Reardon in Nelson, New Zealand last October when he was guest speaker at the “All for Life” conference.
I am a politician seeking to update the abortion law of New Zealand by introducing informed and free consent with the gaol of reducing the number of abortions.
I want to renew contact with Dr Reardon and seek his guidance and input on this matter.
Can you ask him to email me?
I have not been able to find an email address for him on your website so hope this will reach him.
Praying God’s continued blessing on you work.
Gordon Copeland
I have been contacting state governors and the president that we should fly flags at half mast at least one day during the month of April which is Abortion Recovery Month. No one has answered on the positive as yet. Maybe if we all wrote them and started a petition they would listen. Fly flags at half mast in memorial of all the aborted babies so that mothers and fathers can look forward to this every year for continued healing.
Great idea. We’ll do what we can to help get the word out.
Let’s build a memorial grounds for the virtual placement of the babies who have been aborted. Each baby should be named, and a headstone placed in their memory.
Victim mothers and fathers could send money for a headstone in memory of the beloved child.
We will need a vast piece of ground, so the site will be observable from the air. Lets do it now before the tragedy grows any further.
Surely the people will see then that we do not want to continue this cruelty to our civilization.
There are a number of sites around the country offering memorials of that sort. Search for “memorial for the unborn” and you will find some. One of the oldest and largest is the National Memorial for the Unborn in Tennessee. The purchase and dedication of this site is a very interesting story. Rather than repeat it here, we encourage you to read about the history of the National Memorial for the Unborn here.
I would like to have a small memorial on the ground of Washington’s Arlington Cemetery, or a special spot near one of the war memorials. Just a simple sign by a headstone for the unborn that reads, “already more unborn babies have been sacrificed to abortion than all the war deaths in all of our wars. Is the enemy within even greater than our enemies beyond our borders? ” don’t know how this could occur, but think it could be effective.
any ideas on making it happen?? gretchen