Every election cycle raises familiar arguments about abortion. This heated political season is no different with Republicans and Democrats staking out their positions.

For women, couples and families, however, the physical and emotional aftermath of the procedure is often difficult to discuss.

For the past month, a post-abortion support group, “The Beautiful Pain Movement,” has held Saturday morning meetings to help women and men talk about how abortion has affected them.

Tianna Spears, 20, founded the support group after watching a friend deal with her feelings after an abortion mostly on her own. She said the group took a neutral position, focusing on communication.

“It’s a taboo issue whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice,” Spears said. “Most people going through this don’t reach out and feel alone.”

As an adolescent, Spears said when she would go through a challenging phase in her life her mother would remind her not to feel defeated.

“That’s where the name ‘Beautiful Pain’ comes from,” Spears said. “She would tell me to look at it as beautiful because it would make me stronger.”

All walks of life

The five-week support group was for people of any religious or political background.

Spears, an N.C. State University double business/Spanish major, says it can be hard to relate to people if one doesn’t feel welcomed and when people are placed in broad categories.

Women having abortions come from all walks of life.

According to the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics, in 2010, the largest group of women getting abortions in the state, 32 percent, were 20 to 24 years old.

About 77 percent of women who had an abortion were unmarried. About 43 percent had some college education.

In Durham County in 2010, women ages 15 to 44 had a reported 1,385 total abortions.

That is compared to a total of 4,257 live births in the county.

For Spears, who grew up in Durham, the number of people living life post-abortion shows the need for people to be able to talk about it.

“It’s a large subject in politics and society in general,” she said. “But it’s a sensitive topic, and some people dealing with it feel vulnerable.”

Mimi Every runs the local Christian ministry Pregnancy Support Services, which offers post-abortion support.

Every has worked with PSS for 20 years and is glad to see another place where women can talk.

Although as a Christian ministry her organization approaches the issue differently, Every said there is a “common thread” that follows women post-abortion.

“Regret, shame or a lack of self-forgiveness,” she said. “Sometimes it manifests itself in bigger issues like depression, but everybody is different and there’s no way to predict that.”

“Research shows some women may not have any effect for a while but something later triggers regret,” she said.

Sometimes this trigger may be a marriage or a birth that brings up thoughts a woman has not faced before.

‘What could have been’

Durham resident Kirenia Rivera thinks the support group is a good idea.

A native of Cuba, Rivera knows several women who have had abortions and said some feel “ashamed” it and are reluctant to talk.

“I know a friend that had to do it for medical reasons,” Rivera said. “She always wonders when she looks at her daughter and can’t help but to think what could have been.”

Rivera said abortions are legal in Cuba but in some Latin America countries, like El Salvador, they are not. She said for women from those countries, a support group may help.

“It could be a place where they understand or accept and find closure,” Rivera said.

Every believes it helps to have someone listen to lessen the isolation some women feel.

“It takes courage to step forward and say I had an abortion,” she said. “We can’t change the past but we can approach a healthy future.”

Spears said she does not have any training in leading group sessions, but she does have “the heart for it” and received positive feedback.

Spears noticed when her friend went through life after abortion there were few places to turn.

“They didn’t know where to go because there isn’t a lot of post-abortion support,” she said. “Seeing that, you always want to do something.”