Linda Dean This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Las Vegas Weekly: Upfront 1

   www.lasvegasweekly.com/2002/05 - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/24/2002   Last Visited: 8/24/2002

   But that's what worries pro-life supporters such as Linda Dean, executive director of the Women's Resource Center of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit, pro-life organization that provides free pregnancy tests and services to women in need.
   
   "Indeed one of the complications is women can actually pass a part of a fetus at home, when they're not in a clinic or directly under a doctor's care at that time," Dean says."And psychologically, that can be very disturbing for women."

2. 2. Late Term Abortions

   www.ktnv.com/news/mar03/125227 - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/13/2003   Last Visited: 3/14/2003

   Linda Dean is the director of the Women's Resource Center.It offers ultra-sounds as well as referrals and information for women facing pregnancy.She says this ban is needed.And even if this ban is approved in the House and signed by the president, Dean believes a woman's right to choose to have an abortion will not be in jeopardy.
   
   But there are critics to the ban and organizations like Planned Parenthood worry this move could open the door to further restrictions against women.

3. 3. Boundless-Forgotten Fathers

   www.boundless.org/2001/feature - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/10/2002   Last Visited: 2/24/2006

   Dean believes men feel this way because God created women to be nurturers and men to be protectors.Thus, abortion goes against a man's nature and rips him apart inside.
   
   While abortion's effect on millions of men is palpable, so far it's been virtually ignored by society."There's a societal pressure on men not to whine and cry," Dean says.
   ...
   The double standard confronting men is that they're to take responsibility for the child, but the woman doesn't need to consult them to abort that same child, says Linda Dean of the Women's Resource Center of Southern Nevada.Dean has seen a lot of cases like Nick's.She has a master's degree in Marriage and Family therapy and has worked with thousands of women and men who are dealing with abortion.In her 20 years of counseling, she's often had men call her, saying their partner wants to abort their child.She can counsel them, but there's really nothing that can be done to enforce a father's right to be a father.
   
   At the end of the school year, Samantha told Nick she didn't want to see him anymore and ended the relationship.
   ...
   It's a reaction consistent with what most men feel after an abortion, according to Dean.She believes men feel this way because God created women to be nurturers and men to be protectors.Thus, abortion goes against a man's nature and rips him apart inside.The anger - which Dean says is rarely dealt with in a healthy way - devastates men individually, but it also has implications for our collective society.The anger we see in society every day - road rage, frequent mass shootings, etc. - could be partially attributed to emotions associated with abortion that have been ignored, Dean says.
   
   Nick experienced many other negative results from the abortion.He feared that people won't accept him if they find out about the abortion.He had trouble trusting women and maintaining relationships - a dozen years later he's still single.Nick also struggles with guilt, he says: "There are times when I look at other kids and I think, ‘I could have a 12 or 13-year-old.'" Nick says that the effects of the abortion will be with him for the rest of his life.
   
   The number of abortions per year has been relatively consistent, meaning that about 15 million fathers have been effected by abortion in the past decade.Men who have their children aborted against their will may be more aware that their negative emotions stem from the event, Dean says.This may help them in dealing with the emotions.Men who supported an abortion still suffer emotionally, she adds, but sometimes it doesn't surface for five, 10 or even 15 years after the abortion.
   
   This happened to my friend Doug, who was supportive of his girlfriend's abortion and paid for the procedure.Doug couldn't explain the anger and confusion he felt after the abortion.And after he and his girlfriend split up - which happens to most post-abortion couples - he didn't think about it anymore.Ten years later, Doug ran into his ex-girlfriend in a coffee shop and immediately broke down weeping.All the pain and guilt from the abortion washed over him that day, he says.From that day forward he's dealt with the same symptoms Nick experienced.
   
   While abortion's effect on millions of men is palpable, so far it's been virtually ignored by society."There's a societal pressure on men not to whine and cry," Dean says.Moreover, she adds, after an abortion men and women are assured that they shouldn't feel bad and that they did the right thing.These assurances that they're OK, given to people after they've gone through an abortion, actually produce the opposite result."We're telling people who are experiencing these feelings that they shouldn't be feeling these things," Dean says.
   ...
   To contact Dean or Forgotten Fathers, call (702) 391-4979 or e-mail lvwrc@earthlink.net.