Sports
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The Battalion
Page IB • Thursday, November 7, 2002
Soccer team begins run in Big 12 Tournament
ahomaSoonerstci
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By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
jhe No. 3 Texas A&M women’s soc-
CUmaiilingD certeam (15-3-1, 9-0-1) is looking to
defend its 2001 Tournament title and its
2002 regular season championship this
week in San Antonio at the Big 12
Championship Tournament. The last
time the Aggies won a regular season
was in 1997, when they went on to
win their first-ever tournament crown.
The 2002 season has been full of ups
downs. The Aggies have a 14-game
[unbeaten streak, which is a team record
for consecutive games without a loss.
The streak started after dropping three
matches in a row, which is the team
record for most consecutive losses.
With the Aggies 2-1 win against No.
blexas Friday, giving them the regular
[season title, the Aggies secured the first
end of the Big 12 Championship dou
ble-dip. Now that the first goal has
been met, the Aggies are moving on to
the next step in their quest.
“We’re reassessing our goals for the
rest of the way,” said head coach G.
Guenieri. “We consider (the Big 12
Tournament) to be a season unto itself.”
The Aggies enter the tournament as
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the number one seed by virtue of their
first place finish in the regular season.
They begin by facing off against the
eighth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowgirls
who are making their program’s first
Big 12 Tournament appearance.
The Cowgirls are coming off a 3-2
win against archrival Oklahoma. OSU
sophomore Jeni Jackson scored a hat
trick, or three goals, in the last six min
utes to overcome a 2-0 deficit and give
the Cowgirls their first Big 12
Tournament birth.
“(OSU) is going to be a hungry
team,” said Big 12 Offensive Player of
the Week Emma Smith. “It’s going to
be a good game for us to go in and play
first. It’ll be a good hard game.”
Smith has picked up her game as she
has scored six goals in the last six
games and is on a current six-game
point streak. Coupled with sophomore
Linsey Woodard, whose 13 goals lead
the Big 12, the Aggie offense is running
on all cylinders.
“(Our midfielders) have been unbe
lievable at getting behind people and
sending in crosses,” Smith said.
Freshman Kati Jo Spisak, the Big 12
Newcomer of the Week and First-Team
All-Big 12 selection, has continued to
improve her aggressiveness in the net.
Spisak made six saves against Texas,
including a save on a penalty shot.
The rest of the defense, anchored by
First-Team All-Big 12 selection Jessica
Martin, has forced opponents away
from their strategies.
“All over the field everybody,
throughout the season, has stepped up,”
said senior midfielder Heather
Ragsdale. “As a team we have started
to play a lot better overall.”
The competition in the Big 12
Tournament should be fierce. Texas,
the No. 2 seed, did not lose a game
until it faced the Aggies. No. 3
Nebraska won the Big 12 Tournament
in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 and No.
4 Missouri has netted 13.9 percent of
its shots.
“We should be nothing but confi
dent,” Guerrieri said. “The players
should have experienced the satisfac
tion of what hard work brings, and
they’ve worked hard.”
The Aggies begin play at 1 1 a.m. on
Thursday against Oklahoma State at
Blossom Field in San Antonio. The
winner of that game will take on the
winner of Missouri vs. Colorado in
Friday’s semifinal.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
A&M sophomore Linsey Woodard battles for the ball against Texas last week.
Texas baseball team given probation for coach’s violations
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Paid Advertisment
_ Are
Later Children
Affected by Abortion?
Martha Shuping, M.D.
Can an abortion affect one's parenting skills?
Obviously, if women and men are having emotional
problems because of their past abortions, this is going
to have an impact on their families. For example,
women who have had an abortion are more likely to
report subsequent substance abuse. Clearly, alcoholism
rind drug abuse have a negative impact on families.
Women who have had abortions are also more like
ly to become depressed for long periods of time. This,
like other prolonged reactions to abortion, can affect
children’s emotional development, which is modeled
on their parents’.
A past abortion can also have a direct impact on
one s parenting “style.” For example, in one study of
women who had post-abortion problems, nearly halt
reported that they feared they would be “punished” for
their abortions by some harm coming to their other
children.
In many cases, these women choke back their love
and are afraid to bond with their children. They fear
that if they love their children “too much,” they’ll be
punished by losing them.
Conversely, nearly half of the women in this study
reported a “compulsion to be a perfect mother.” These
tendencies have led many women to report that they
have become overly protective and “smothering” of
their subsequent children. They too may be motivated
hy a tear of harm coming to their children, so they are
deathly afraid of letting them out of their sight.
Unfortunately, some parents with unresolved grief
want their bom children to serve as “replacements” for
the one who was aborted. This can result in the bom
children constantly being judged against the unattain
able standard of “what might have been.”
But aren't these problems offset by the fact that abortion
has reduced child abuse by reducing the number of
unwanted children?
This “fact” isn’t a fact at all. Indeed, after decades
of study, researchers haven’t found a single shred of
evidence to support the conclusion that abortion
reduces the risk of child abuse. Instead, numerous stud
ies have shown the opposite: a history of abortion is
statistically associated with higher rates of child abuse.
These findings are supported by clinical experience.
A substantial number of women and men seeking post
abortion therapy have described a link between their
unresolved post-abortion feelings and patterns of emo
tional or physical abuse of their subsequent
children.
One woman described feelings of intense rage
whenever her newborn baby cried: “I did not under
stand why her crying would make me so angry. She
was the most beautiful baby, and had such a placid per
sonality. What I didn’t realize then was that I hated my
daughter for being able to do all these things that my
lost [aborted] baby would never be able to do.”
Are you saying abortion can cause child abuse?
Yes. The reasons for child abuse are complex, and
can’t be fully dealt with here. But let me make a couple
of quick points.
Difficulty bonding with subsequent children
because of fear, shame, or guilt is commonly reported
by post-abortion parents. Lack of adequate bonding is
also one of the most significant risk factors for child
abuse. When inadequate bonding is combined with
feelings of anger and rage, which are common afteref
fects of abortion, a dangerous mix can result.
In some rare instances, abortion can also lead to
complete emotional breakdown with tragic results.
Renee Nicely of New Jersey experienced a “psychotic
episode” the day after her abortion which resulted in
the beating death of her three-year-old son, Shawn. She
told the court psychiatrist that she "knew that abortion
was wrong" and that she “should be punished for the
abortion." Unfortunately, Shawn became the victim of
her pain and guilt.
Sadly, in years to come it may be shown that post
abortion trauma was a major cause of the dramatic rise
in child abuse cases in the last two decades.
Can abortion have an impact on siblings who were
already bom?
Yes. Some children experience “survivor guilt”
over the abortion of a sibling. They feel guilty that they
were the ones “chosen” by their parents to live. Some
may even feel that they are responsible for the abortion
of their sibling; if they had not been “so much trouble,”
perhaps their parents would not have felt it necessary to
abort “another burdensome child.”
One expert in the treatment of child abuse. Dr.
Philip Ney, has noted that children who know they
were “wanted” may not feel they were simply “wel
comed” for who they are. This subtle shift, from being
unconditionally “welcomed” into a family toward
being “wanted” to satisfy their parents’ expectations,
may have a lasting impact on the child’s self-percep
tion.
Dr. Marltia Shuping, M.D., is a psychiafrist with more than ten years of
experience in helping women with post-obortion issues.
Supporting citations are posted at www.afterabortion.org
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,0n Stress Quiz continued from page 6
^ ere a P er * oc ^ a f ter your abortion
°fal ^t? 11 ex P er ^ ence( d an increase in the use
othe r f °* ° r < ^ ru ^ s ^ Have you experienced
^ °nm of emotional deadening?
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disorder^ ^ aVe ^ ou deve l°ped any eating
niaint 0 ^ 011 ^ aVe trou ^ e finding, building, or
°f the min ^ .g° OC * re l a ti°nships with people
with • Ppos * te sex? Do you have trouble
lth issues of trust and control?
Do you get involved in hurtful or
abusive relationships? Do you tolerate abuse
because you feel you don’t deserve any bet
ter?
qq. Have you lost the desire for sexual inter
course? Do you have increased pain during
intercourse?
Have you become promiscuous because
of low self-esteem?
Have you lost a previous desire to have
children, or are you filled with an anxious
desire to have a child as soon as possible?
Q9» Do you experience periods of depres
sion, heightened anxiety, or cramping during
certain months of the year, particularly dur
ing the months that would correspond to the
month of your abortion or the due date of the
aborted pregnancy?
Q10: Did you have a faith in God that you
have now lost? Are you afraid of God? Are
you angry at God? Have your rejected your
religion for emotional rather than thoughtful
reasons?
Post-Abortion Stress Quiz Answer key:
If you have answered yes to three or
more of the previous questions, post
abortion counseling may help. Skilled
and understanding people, many of
whom have been through the same
things you are going through now, want
to help. Many services are free. See page
2 for a list of referral centers.
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