Steven Tyler a Post-Abortion Father

A rock star is a person who runs around the stage, hugs microphones, acts crazy and does whatever it takes to get attention.  One seldom thinks of rock stars as real people with real emotions.   Steven Tyler fits the first description, but it is revealing to learn that he is also a traumatized post-abortion father.

In his newly-released tell-all book, Tyler tells the story about the abortion his girl friend had when Tyler was in his late 20s.  “It was a big crisis.  It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives…You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch.   And it comes out dead.  I was pretty devastated.  In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”    Wrenching stuff to read — you can palpably feel the emotion he experienced at this awful time.

One of Tyler’s friends said of the event, “So they had the abortion and it really messed Steven up because it was a boy.  He…saw the whole thing and it [messed] him up big time.”   Tyler coped with drugs and drink.   He trashed hotel rooms, raged at bandmates.

When Tyler eventually married and his wife was expecting their first child, he was still haunted by the abortion.  “It affected me later…I was afraid.  I thought we’d give birth to a six-headed cow because of what I’d done with other women.  The real-life guilt was very traumatic for me.  Still hurts.”

Post-abortion trauma knows no boundaries and can affect anyone — mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, friends.   Tyler did fathers a huge favor by revealing the agony a father feels when his baby is aborted.   He has used his unfortunate experience to hopefully educate a nation of fathers.

Barbara Lyons