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, Tyler persuaded the parents of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Julia Holcomb, to make him her legal guardian so that they could live together in Boston.
When Miss Holcomb and Tyler conceived a child, his longtime friend Ray Tabano convinced Tyler that abortion was the only solution. 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. He . . . saw the whole thing and it [messed] him up big time.”
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Tyler also reflects on his abortion experience in the autobiography. “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?”
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.
After the abortion, Tyler began a torrid affair with Playboy model Bebe Buell while still seeing Julia, the mother of his aborted son. If you were wondering what happened to Julia (who is referred to as Diana Hall in the book) after this purportedly psychologically safe procedure, Bebe tells us: “There were many suicidal calls from poor Diana as they were breaking up. It was actually a pretty sad time.”
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 Europe. . . . One night I found him on the floor of his bathroom having a drug seizure. He was writhing in pain.”
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.
Anybody here wanna show any mercy toward the 16 year old crack addict in the South Bronx who, if he were asked to write an "autobiography," would attribute his predicament to the fact that his father is unknown and his mother is a 32 year old crack addict currently in jail?
You're right Mike. National Review never condemns flagrant and unrepentent unmarried procreation. And it never points out the disastrous effects of fatherless households.
That Tyler's recounting of his abortion experience causes you to "ROFL" says quite a bit about "MikeB".
An entertainment basket case, needing a little good press at this point in his "career" (if you can call it that), gets some good ghostwritten treatment. How truly traumatized is Tyler by watching an abortion? We'll never know, but to portray him as traumatized by it makes him look a lot more sympathetic than he'd otherwise be if the autobiography stuck to his revolving girlfriends and prodigious pharmaceutical intake.
MikeB, I don't think I would be in a position to show mercy, but I could show love and understanding while realizing that this person’s (crack addict) only hope is to recognize the contributing cause, stop the behavior, not use it for an excuse for continued bad behavior, and move on to something better and more rewarding. Faith in God and use of prayer are often of great aid in these endeavors.
For MikeB again... You say playing up his trauma makes Tyler more sympathetic. More sympathetic to whom? To NRO readers? Perhaps yes, but certainly not to the cultures that predominate our East and West Coasts, which likely were the intended audiences for the book. To gain their sympathies, Tyler would be better off saying, "I firmly believe in a woman's right to choose and I stand by her in that decision -- then, now and forever." He'd be the toast of NY and Hollywood.
lol, I don't think Steven Tyler needed an excuse to take drugs in the 70's. Maybe the abortion messed him up or maybe it didn't. But to imply that absent that he'd be eating his vegetables and in bed by 9 while touring with Aerosmith in 1975 is funny.
I love the way the pro-abortion crowd goes out of it's way to denigrate anyone who suggests that there is anything wrong with their most sacred of rites.
I think its pretty safe to say that most people who have abortions don't develop crippling drug and alcohol dependencies. I'm really confused as to the point of this article. There is far more reason to presume that Steven Tyler's problems were part of his rock n roll lifestyle rather than a consequence of an abortion.
In the mid-Eighties, I got a call like this from a male friend who was at an abortion clinic with his live-in. They had just killed his unborn first son. He was weeping, really unconsolable. His regret was immediate. And he had forced his live-in girlfriend to abort because he didn't think he wanted to be a dad yet.
A few years later, he had married the girlfriend and I drove them to the hospital early one morning for the delivery of their next child.
I rarely comment on Abortion discussions, but this piece affected me, probably because I’ve been an Aerosmith fan since I was a kid, been to half a dozen of their concerts and never connected his drug use to something as personal as Abortion. I don’t know if Abortion or a rock and roll lifestyle were primarily responsible for Tyler’s slide into self destruction, but this article was certainly food for thought. Thanks.
WOW. The Captcha was "More Birthdays." Outstanding.
My wife and I used to take our three very small daughters to abortion clinic protests. The 'pro-choice' people strongly disapproved; and just for the record, one daughter turned out conservative, one moderate, and one (the Ivy League graduate, of course) quite liberal.
But they are all strongly pro-life, and I think their presence at the clinic saved a life or two.
When I was younger I ran with a crowd that was into drugs, partying, wicca, role-playing games and other goofy stuff. I ran with them but I was still a Republican and pro-life. I wasn't a Christian in anything but a name however.
Anyway the one thing that made me unique in this group was my conservative political views especially my pro-life stance. At one party a girl...friend of mine pointed me out to some young women (late teens and early 20s) who were extremely feminist and libertine. My friend wanted them to confront me about being pro-life because one of the girls, a teen-ager, had just gotten an abortion.
So the entire party focuses on me and these women confronting and they taunt me with "So you are pro-life? Did you know Sarah here just had an abortion and she is perfectly happy about? You want to tell Sarah why she can't control her own body?"
I having the arrogance of youth and the courage of my convictions I focused on Sarah and explained that she had a child in her and she had killed that child. She could do what she liked with her own body but she should not have killed an innocent child to make her life easier.
One of the girls started cursing at me right away but Sarah herself started to cry. Eventually she cried so hard people forgot about me and asked her what was wrong.
She finally got out that she knew she had killed her child and it was wrong. But NO ONE she knew would ever tell her that they had just kept telling her it was ok but she knew it was not ok and that her baby was dead. Sarah came over and hugged me then and said thank you for knowing her baby was "real". The moment was more than awkward and bit of a party killer. People just sort of meander off to do drugs by themselves and me and others soon went home.
So yes people suffer trauma from abortion and pro-abortion types do everything possible to cover it up. I am not surprised that Taylor went crazy after forcing a girl he was already abusing to kill their baby.
I have also, since becoming a Christian, sat with anguished fathers who have lost their baby, against their will, to abortion. Anger management is a huge problem for them. Failing to defend the life of your child is big hit for any father. I thank God I have not had to go through such pain in my life...yet. Abortion a simple safe, painless procedure, yeah right...
@Smithersjones You can't be that dense. The point of the article is that Abortions do cause trauma in people and some deal with trauma better than others. If the article had been about fatal car crash that Taylor had survived and how the trauma of the car crash had affected him you could write, "Please, I am confused about the point of the article most people that survive car crashed don't go on to have crippling drug and alcohol addictions."
However everyone would know how foolish you were. Trauma affect people differently some deal well with it and others do not. Taylor did not deal well with the trauma of abortion.
MikeB-Obviously, you have no experience with the underworld of the abortion industry. I'm a professional psychothereapist with over 30 yrs. of clinical experience and I have encountered many over the years who have had abortions....if you don't think the experience of abortion has any significant impact, you are sadly mistaken. I've seen far too many broken lives to take the cavalier attitude toward it that you do. People like you remind me just how far we've come in the loss of sanctity for human life.
I will not comment on what the others have said about abortion. Their comments are certainly better than I could offer.
I will also not ask MikeB or SmithersJones any questions. (Aren't you two relieved?) We all know that they will not answer them because they can not answer them. More is the pitty. (Although if they want to answer honestly the profoundly simple question about what will we ultimately get if a fertilized human egg is allowed to grow to maturity I will not complain.)
However, I would like to offer one observation:
"... Todd Rundgren, who agreed to act as father of the child and keep Tyler’s fatherhood a secret."
I feel it should be mentioned about what a stand-up guy Mr. Rundgren is.
Mr. Rundgren is both a man and, much more importantly, a gentleman.
His behavior serves as the proper example for men everywhere to emulate.
I salute you Mr. Rundgren. I offer you my hand in friendship and respect. You and your family will always have a place at my table.
We need to recognize some important truths about abortion:
- It harms the mother. Women that undergo abortions are rarely the same psychologically after the fact. For many, they continue to be haunted by depression and esteem issues. Yet you'd never know this listening to anti-life proponents. Nor will they ever note that women who choose abortion have higher rates of cervical cancer.
- The vast majority of abortions are done for the sake of convenience. When you remove the number of children that are aborted on the basis of rape, incest, life of the mother, etc you still have about 96% left that must be accounted for somehow. Further, the anti-life movement tells us that "reproductive rights" are meant to be a tool for women to shape their own lives and pursue their own ends. In other words, abortion is a means for who choose promiscuous lifetyles to do so without the consequence of childbirth. Of course abortion doesn't address STDs which is why STD rates have risen concurrent with Roe v Wade.
- Speaking of Roe v Wade, one of abortion's biggest opponents is the litigant in that case that sought her right to abort her child. One would hope we'd be open to learn from her. Yet she's never invited to speak at NOW rallies.
- Remember the recent case in Philly of the ghoulish abortionist and his little shop of horrors? No? The MSM have gone out of there way to keep things like this way off the radar.
- Abortion disproportionately targets women of color. This may be fitting since Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger. Eugenicists like Sanger sought abortion as tool to rid society of "the unwanted". Isn't "unwanted" a term we still hear from anti-lifers?
