One Woman's Macabre Memoir: 15 Abortions in 17 Years

Imagine someone writing a book where she recounts multiple abortions over multiple years and calls herself an 'abortion addict'. You don't have to imagine, the book was just published.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - Irene Vilar, 40, is a successful literary agent and the home-schooling mother of two little girls, Lolita, 3, and Loretta, 5. She and her husband, a writer and poet, live in the outskirts of Denver Colorado. The storybook image of this Puerto Rican born woman was shattered this month with the revelation that between the ages of 16 and 33 she had 15 abortions.

Vilar's memoir, "Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict," hit the book shelves on October 6. In the book she recounts and reflects on conceiving and terminating the lives of 15 babies over a 17 year period.

Ultimately, Vilar recounts that after going through a time of self-discovery and experiencing a time of nursing her dying dog, she ended the marriage she felt was a major contributor to her "abortion addiction."

As a teenager, she was considered a prodigy, being accepted by New York University at age 15. A year later she met and married a 50 year-old Latin American Literature professor.

She claims that the pregnancies and subsequent abortions were used to keep her husband in the relationship and it slowly became an addiction.

While the marriage lasted only 11 years, her abortion practices continued until her re-marriage in 2003.

In the London Daily Mail, Vilar stated, "Motherhood has made me feel accountable. It hasn't made me less pro-choice. It's just that I understand and feel the weight of the privilege we have in exercising our right to choose."

No one should take from that statement any idea that Vilar has become more pro-life. When talking to the Daily Mail about the work of women who fought for the right to kill the unborn she said, "My feeling was that I let them down. They risked their lives to give me this, and I abused that right. But thanks to that right, I'm alive."

So why did she write about her multiple abortions? "Women have written memoirs about their anorexia or their bulimia," she stated, "and they explain the best that they can what motivated their addiction or their behavior. I try to do the same in this book."

The book has caused a huge stir regarding the abortion issue worldwide, particularly with regard to the practice as a repetitive form of birth control.

The pro-life community who spend their lives protecting the lives of unborn babies, expressed horror and shock concerning such an utter disregard of human life.

They were amazed that the systematic killing of numerous unborn children could be likened to an eating disorder and treated so casually by the author.

"Her story is just so tragic," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life told the Los Angeles Times. "It really underscores everything we always say in the pro-life movement -- that abortion is part of a very sad story for women."

Even those who affirm a woman's right to choose have a hard time defending what this woman did. For the most part, abortion proponents have not weighed in on the book or behavior of the author.

"The majority of pro-choicers -- and I don't blame them -- are somewhat confused," Vilar told the LA Times. She went on to explain that access to legal abortion saved her life because she would have found a way to end her pregnancies no matter what.

In an article for ABC News, Susan Arnoldson James chose to use the story as an opportunity to warn about new pro-life pressure. She began her article by stating, "Irene Vilar worries that her self-described 'abortion addiction' will be misunderstood, twisted by the pro-life movement to deny women the right to choose."

James goes on, "As press on the book has begun to leak out, Vilar -- a literary agent and editor --- says she has already sensed 'an inkling of hatred.'

"'I am worried about my safety and the hate mail,' she told ABCNews.com in a telephone interview as her home-schooled children were at work on a painting project."

Vilar told the National Post that the manuscript was rejected 51 times before a publisher, Other Press, agreed to take it to print. The publisher required the author to produce evidence that her claim of multiple abortions was true. In the process of producing the evidence, the report of an additional but forgotten abortion came to light.

The author announced she is working on a follow-up book titled, "In the Middle of the Night," on the topic of motherhood.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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