Rocker Steven Tyler of Aerosmith Haunted by Girlfriend’s
Abortion
by Kevin Burke Washington, DC
LifeNews.com
5/4/11 5:59 PM
We find our self taken aback once again by
a Christian Publication lauding a story as being some kind of victory for
Christ and the Church, when in all reality this is a rather sick story of sin, death,
and destruction – without repentance, without restitution, and without
conversion.
Long before he won accolades as an
American Idol judge, Steven Tyler was a bona-fide rock star, with all that that
implied. In 1975, when he was in his late 20s and the lead
singer for the band Aerosmith,
When Miss Holcomb and Tyler conceived a
child, his longtime friend Ray Tabano convinced
In the Aerosmith “autobiography,” Walk
This Way (in which recollections by all the band members, and their friends and
lovers, were assembled by the author Stephen Davis), Tabano says: “So
they had the abortion, and it really messed Steven up because it was a boy. (We
find it disgusting that
The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines a traumatic event
as follows: “1. The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an
event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or
a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. 2. The person’s response
involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.”
Those who support abortion rights assure
us that post-abortion complications are a myth. But Steven Tyler cuts through
this fog of denial and lays it on the line: Jesus, what have I done?
This is the cry of a post-abortive father
whose very intimate exposure to the reality of abortion fits the textbook
definition of trauma — as set down by the very same American Psychiatric
Association that assures us abortion is a safe procedure with no negative
effects on a man’s or a woman’s mental health.
GO NUMB AND RUN
What happens to someone who is exposed to
a traumatic event and fails to process the images and memories of that
experience and heal the psychic wounds? The person is likely to go numb, run,
and act out the unresolved themes of the trauma.
There is no easier occupation in which to
react this way to post-abortion trauma than that of a rock star in the 1970s
and ’80s.
(The
next point of outrage) After the abortion, (Foisted
upon
And how was Steven coping?
He went on a European concert tour,
accompanied by Bebe, who tells us: “He was crazy … totally drunk, really out of
it. … Steven destroyed his dressing room at Hammersmith … when we got back from
This was followed by Steven’s “Tuinal
days” — a period he spent stoned on massive doses of the barbiturate. He says:
“I would eat four or five a day … and be good for a couple of months … which is
why that period is blackout stuff.”
This is the dysfunctional recipe for
dealing with post-traumatic stress: Take heavy doses of drugs to numb the
memories and feelings — and throw in a portion of toxic rage at bandmates and
hotel rooms. Anger, especially in men, is often an undiagnosed sign of
depression and repressed grief that needs a healthy expression and healing.
Many post-abortive fathers tell us that anger management was a major problem
for them after their abortions.
Then Bebe Buell became pregnant with
TRAUMA AND HEALING
For many post-abortive men and women, the
anxiety associated with an abortion can surface at unexpected times, triggered
by events such as a subsequent pregnancy, the death of a pet or a loved one, or
some other person, place, or thing that in some way connects with the traumatic
memory.
Years
later, when
Tyler
and his girlfriend have yet to face God and receive their due judgment for
their deeds.
At Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries, we often
see men and women many years after their abortion, when they are ready to take
a look at this secret and shadowy corner of their souls. Most people cannot
make sense of the fragmented, disjointed pieces of their post-abortive lives
until they attend a healing program. Tragically, the spin doctors of our
pro-abortion culture work overtime to make sure that these connections are
never made.
Despite the opposition, post-abortive
parents, grandparents, and siblings are finding their way to healing programs
around the world. As they travel together through the healing process, they
learn from and support one another. They discover that the fragmented pieces of
their lives start fitting together and making sense. This may be one of the
reasons that it is so difficult to counter the propaganda of the pro-abortion
movement. It is often only after the healing journey that post-abortive men and
women can see the intimate connection between their abortions and their
emotional problems, addictions, and other post-abortion symptoms.
STILL A FAN
I grew up with the music of Aerosmith as
a teenager in the 1970s and continue to have a great respect for the
songwriting ability and performing talent of Steven Tyler. His actions in the
abortion of his son were very wrong, and he suffered the consequences, as his
life descended into a quagmire of addiction and self-destruction. Fortunately,
At the heart of post-abortion healing is
the cleansing of a wounded heart. The post-abortive parent must be free of
shame, guilt, and grief before he or she can embrace the unborn child with
love. Let us hope and pray that this rock star and Idol judge can make peace
with his abortion loss and find forgiveness and reconciliation with God and his
aborted son — and that he will then use his considerable talent and influence
to call other post-abortive fathers to healing.