Anti-Choice Women Who Have Abortions

[Ian David]

May 11, 2005

Anti-Choice Women Who Have Abortions
It might seem incredible, but apparently many anti-abortion women and activists have abortions. Why? There also appears to be a common rationalization that their situation is unique and justifies an abortion, but everyone else is a slut and therefore abortion should be illegal. Rational? No - but then, neither is the anti-choice movement in the first place.

Pro-Choice Network has some quotes from abortion providers:

"I've had several cases over the years in which the anti-abortion patient had rationalized in one way or another that her case was the only exception, but the one that really made an impression was the college senior who was the president of her campus Right-to-Life organization, meaning that she had worked very hard in that organization for several years. As I was completing her procedure, I asked what she planned to do about her high office in the RTL organization. Her response was a wide-eyed, 'You're not going to tell them, are you!?' When assured that I was not, she breathed a sigh of relief, explaining how important that position was to her and how she wouldn't want this to interfere with it." (Physician, Texas)

"The sister of a Dutch bishop in Limburg once visited the abortion clinic in Beek where I used to work in the seventies. After entering the full waiting room she said to me, 'My dear Lord, what are all those young girls doing here?' 'Same as you', I replied. 'Dirty little dames,' she said." (Physician, The Netherlands)

Sometimes, abortion providers refuse to do abortions for anti-abortion activists who are obviously not psychologically or emotionally ready for the procedure:

"Recently, we had a patient who had given a history of being a 'pro-life' activist, but who had decided to have an abortion. She was pleasant to me and our initial discussion was mutually respectful. Later, she told someone on my staff that she thought abortion is murder, that she is a murderer, and that she is murdering her baby. So before doing her procedure, I asked her if she thought abortion is murder -- the answer was yes. I asked her if she thought I am a murderer, and if she thought I would be murdering her baby, and she said yes. But murder is a crime, and murderers are executed. Is this a crime? Well, it should be, she said. At that point, she became angry and hostile, and the summary of the conversation was that she regarded me as an abortion-dispensing machine, and how dare I ask her what she thinks. After explaining to her that I do not perform abortions for people who think I am a murderer or people who are angry at me, I declined to provide her with medical care. I do not know whether she found someone else to do her abortion." (Physician, Colorado)

More:
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/167661.htm

[Maat]

1. Amazing, isn't it?

But entirely consistent with my life experience.

I, myself, am a progressive - bigtime.

I grew up, however, in a conservative household (I'm 47).

The one thing I learned is that most conservatives (of the holier-than-thou variety) insist upon living two lives - a very conservative Christian ideal family person facade, and then the other life (who they REALLY are). Now, as to the other life, we just don't talk about that.

[Seedersandleechers]

3. So true

I was an abortion nurse for 15 years and a lot of the protesters were there because they had an abortion, and "lost their place in heaven".

[Maat]

11. Bless you for your work.

Women need good medical care.

Thanks for your service.

I was a social worker for seven years.

We both probably got a good idea of the situations in which people find themselves.

[sakabatou]

2. Hypocrisy in action

[intheflow]

4. Almost every anti-choice woman I've talked to

has either had an abortion and abortion guilt, or knows someone who had an abortion and then abortion guilt.

I think this is a failing of the religious left. Those of us who fall into that category have supported choice but have not provided enough (or any) post-counseling for the women who may experience a kind of survivor's guilt. As if the women's body was separate from her soul/psyche. Our failure to address the long-term spiritual and psychological well-being of women who have had abortions left void which the religious right was all-too-willing to fill with their own warped spirituality, propaganda, and agenda.

[Seedersandleechers]

7. in the 15 year I worked in clinics

we offered post-counseling. I can only recall one time that a person needed or requested counseling. All the others were just relieved.

[intheflow]

9. I understand that clinics offer post-counseling but

as you say, most women are just relieved to be done with it. Then, years later, they discover they have unresolved issues. They feel dumb going back to the clinic, so they turn to the church. I'm mostly just noting that the religious left needs to step up to the plate more to counter the idea that abortion is murder, and open ourselves up to women in spiritual crisis after an abortion. I'm UU clergy and this is one of my pet frustrations with the religious left.

[Maat]

12. I see your point, Intheflow.

One night I was watching 'GayTV' on Free Speech TV. The host, Andy, was upset about the guy who killed his toddler for being 'too gay.' Andy said, "See what happens when you let the idea survive out there that we are less that whole people," or something like that.

It's kind of the same thing here. We are allowing the idea of 'abortion is murder' of an 'unborn child' to stand tall out there.

You have a point.

And the other points here are valid too. I see that they are not in conflict.

People feel different emotions at different times.

[REP]

13. Most Women Do Not Have Long-Term Problems

Those who do have problems after the abortion had probems before the abortion. I'd be glad to show you the studies, which I've posted about a thousand times, on this matter.

[intheflow]

14. You're not hearing what I'm saying.

I have spoken with many Christian Coalition and other so-called "pro life" women. Mostly they were the ones who'd had the abortions, but sometimes it was women in their families, and when they had guilt after the fact, they turned to churches, not clinic or othr phychological counselors. I don't think it matters a whit if they had already had problems before their abortions. You may have oodles of data supporting the fact that most women don't have long-term problems, but it's the vocal minority that did have problems I'm trying to counter with an alternative religious message.

[REP]

15. Just Reading What You Wrote

Which was, "most women are just relieved to be done with it. Then, years later, they discover they have unresolved issues." That certainly seems to state that "most" women have "unresolved issues" concerning their abortions, rather than the "vocal minority" you mention in you follow-up post. I don't like misinformation, no matter what side it comes from, and the simple fact is that most women do not have "unresolved issues" about their abortions even years afterward.

edit: typo

[Heddi]

16. You're absolutely correct

I'd like for there to be a psychological study -- a REALLY good study of women who have abortions. I want them from every economic, religious, family, race, regional background possible. I want women who were raped, and women who had consentual sex. I want women who have had multiple abortions, and women who have only had one. I want ultra religious women, and athiests. Women who are hiding this from someone (parent, spouse, sig other) and women who have full support networks of friends, family, and care providers. I want women who go to clinics for sliding-scale fee, and women who go to prestigious medical institutions.

I want to KNOW---which women are more likely to have 'unresolved issues' and which women won't.

If the women the poster is referring to are coming from highly religious homes, then I wonder if their "unresolved issues" have more to do with things NOT CONCERNING the abortion rather than the abortion itself.

I think it's easy to see relationship = causation, but it's not that simple.

IN nursing school, we're taught to go on what the patient tells you and dig from there. Don't assume you know why someone is crying, or angry, or complacent.

An example they use: Someone is just diagnosed with cancer, and she's crying in the office. Don't assume she's crying because of the cancer diagnosis. Maybe she's crying because she doesn't want to die. Maybe she's crying because this is just one more straw on the camel's back. Maybe she's crying because she fears surgery. Maybe she's crying because she's a model and her salary is dependent upon her being healthy and having both breasts. Sure, they all stem from having 'cancer', but "Cancer" isn't THE reason, or the ONLY reason, or the MAIN reason that she's crying.

I would never assume that just because a woman has an abortion, and later has "unresolved issues", that those issues MUST absolutely be related to the abortion. Was it the abortion itself? Was it her situation at the time that causes her grief? Was this a child that she really wanted but was forced to abort by someone else (parent, sig other, etc)? Was this a child she really wanted and was forced to abort because of severe disability? Was this a child she really wanted and couldn't because of her own physiology? Was this a child she didn't want at all but is upset over other things that were going on her life at the time?

I think that without double-blind, peer-reviewed, long term (as in decades long) studies, we can only ASSUME why women have 'long term unresolved issues' after abortion.

The fact is, not all women do, and the far majority of women don't have any 'unresolved issues' after abortion. For those that do, I think we're doing them a disservice to ASSUME that it's because of the abortion.

Sometimes people get hung up on topics instead of issues. Perhaps the abortion is the 'topic' of their unresolved issues, but what is the REAL reason? We don't live in a vaccuum and our lives are very interwoven and complex. To say that women only have unresolved issues over abortion and that NOTHING ELSE IN THEIR LIFE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THOSE ISSUES AT ALL is short sighted and doesn't even address the myriad of reasons why women have abortions in the first place.

I wonder what is more psychologically damaging in teh long run:

Having an abortion

Having an abortion while living in an abusive situation where you had to get the abortion in secret because your husband won't let you use birth control and you already have 3 kids you can't feed and he beats you or is verbally abusive to you, controlls not only your reproduction but your money, your job, your friends. YOuhave no one to turn to. THis is something you have to do, on your own, alone and by yourself.

I would go with #2 myself, and again, I would think that there would be more issues about the relationship than about the abortion.

[REP]

18. Well, Here's Those Studies I Mentioned

Abortion doesn't affect well-being, study says

New York Times (as printed in the San Jose Mercury 2/12/97)

Abortion does not trigger lasting emotional trauma in young women who
are psychologically healthy before they become pregnant, an eight-year
study of nearly 5,300 women has shown. Women who are in poor shape
emotionally after an abortion are likely to have been feeling bad about
their lives before terminating their pregnancies, the researchers said.

The findings, the researchers say, challenge the validity of laws
that have been proposed in many states, and passed in several, mandating
that women seeking abortions be informed of mental health risks.

The researchers, Dr. Nancy Felipe Russo, a psychologist at Arizona
State University in Tempe, and Dr. Amy Dabul Marin, a psychologist at
Phoenix College, examined the effects of race and religion on the
well-being of 773 women who reported on sealed questionnaires that
they had undergone abortions, and they compared the results with the
emotional status of women who did not report abortions.

The women, initially 14 to 24 years old, completed questionnaires and
were interviewed each year for eight years, starting in 1979. In 1980
and in 1987, the interview also included a standardized test that
measures overall well-being, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

"Given the persistent assertion that abortion is associated with
negative outcomes, the lack of any results in the context of such a
large sample is noteworthy," the researchers wrote. The study took
into account many factors that can influence a woman's emotional
well-being, including education, employment, income, the presence of
a spouse and the number of children.

Higher self-esteem was associated with being employed, having a
higher income, having more years of education and bearing fewer children,
but having had an abortion "did not make a difference," the researchers
reported. And the women's religious affiliations and degree of involvement
with religion did not have an independent effect on their long-term
reaction to abortion. Rather, the women's psychological well-being before
having abortions accounted for their mental state in the years after the
abortion, the researchers said..

In considering the influence of race, the researchers again found
that the women's level of self-esteem before having abortions was the
strongest predictor of their well-being after an abortion.

"Although highly religious Catholic women were slightly more likely
to exhibit post-abortion psychological distress than other women, this
fact is explained by lower pre-existing self-esteem," the researchers
wrote in the current issue of Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice, a journal of the American Psychological Association.

Overall, Catholic women who attended church one or more times a week,
even those who had not had abortions, had generally lower self-esteem
than other women, although within the normal range, so it was hardly
surprising that they also had lower self-esteem after abortions, the
researchers said in interviews.


Most Women Do Not Feel Distress, Regret After Undergoing Abortion, Study Says



   The majority of women who choose to have legal abortions do not experience regret or long-term negative emotional effects from their decision to undergo the procedure, according to a study published in the June issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, NewsRx.com/Mental Health Weekly Digest reports. Dr. A. Kero and colleagues in the Department of Clinical Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology at University Hospital in Umea, Sweden, interviewed 58 women at periods of four months and 12 months after the women's abortions. The women also answered a questionnaire prior to their abortions that asked about their living conditions, decision-making processes and general attitudes toward the pregnancy and the abortion. According to the study, most women "did not experience any emotional distress post-abortion"; however, 12 of the women said they experienced severe distress immediately after the procedure. Almost all of the women said they felt little distress at the one-year follow-up interview. The women who said they experienced no post-abortion distress had indicated prior to the procedure that they opted not to give birth because they "prioritized work, studies, and/or existing children," according to the study. According to the researchers, "almost all" of the women said the abortion was a "relief or a form of taking responsibility," and more than half of the women said they experienced positive emotional experiences after the abortion such as "mental growth and maturity of the abortion process" (NewsRx.com/Mental Health Weekly Digest, 7/12).

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=24751

[REP]

19. More Studies

The psychological sequelae of therapeutic abortion--denied and completed

PK Dagg
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ont., Canada.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to review the available literature on the psychological sequelae of therapeutic abortion, addressing both the issue of the effects of the abortion on the woman involved and the effects on the woman and on the child born when abortion is denied. METHOD: Papers reviewed were initially selected by using a Medline search. This procedure resulted in 225 papers being reviewed, which were further selected by limiting the papers to those reporting original research. Finally, studies were assessed as to whether or not they used control groups or objective, validated symptom measures. RESULTS: Adverse sequelae occur in a minority of women, and when such symptoms occur, they usually seem to be the continuation of symptoms that appeared before the abortion and are on the wane immediately after the abortion. Many women denied abortion show ongoing resentment that may last for years, while children born when the abortion is denied have numerous, broadly based difficulties in social, interpersonal, and occupational functions that last at least into early adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: With increasing pressure on access to abortion services in North America, nonpsychiatrist physicians and mental health professionals need to keep in mind the effects of both performing and denying therapeutic abortion. Increased research into these areas, focusing in particular on why some women are adversely affected by the procedure and clarifying the relationship issues involved, continues to be important.
Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:578-585

Psychological sequelae of medical and surgical abortion at 10-13 weeks gestation.

Ashok PW, Hamoda H, Flett GM, Kidd A, Fitzmaurice A, Templeton A.

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK.

Background. Although not much research comparing the emotional distress following medical and surgical abortion is available, few studies have compared psychological sequelae following both methods of abortion early in the first trimester of pregnancy. The aim of this review was to assess the psychological sequelae and emotional distress following medical and surgical abortion at 10-13 weeks gestation. Methods. Partially randomized patient preference trial in a Scottish Teaching Hospital was conducted. The hospital anxiety and depression scales were used to assess emotional distress. Anxiety levels were also assessed using visual analog scales while semantic differential rating scales were used to measure self-esteem. A total of 368 women were randomized, while 77 entered the preference cohort. Results. There were no significant differences in hospital anxiety and depression scales scores for anxiety or depression between the groups. Visual analog scales showed higher anxiety levels in women randomized to surgery prior to abortion (P < 0.0001), while women randomized to surgical treatment were less anxious after abortion (P < 0.0001). Semantic differential rating scores showed a fall in self-esteem in the randomized medical group compared to those undergoing surgery (P = 0.02). Conclusions. Medical abortion at 10-13 weeks is effective and does not increase psychological morbidity compared to surgical vacuum aspiration and hence should be made available to all women undergoing abortion at these gestations.
Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2005 Aug;84(8):761-6.

Post abortion syndrome: myth or reality?

Koop CE.

What are the health effects upon a woman who has had an abortion? In his letter to President Reagan, dated January 9, 1989, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop wrote that in order to find an answer to this question the Public Health Service would need from 10 to 100 million dollars for a comprehensive study.

PIP: At a 1987 briefing for Right to Life leaders, the author--US Surgeon General C Everett Koop--was requested to prepare a comprehensive report on the health effects (mental and physical) of induced abortion. To prepare for this task, the author met with 27 groups with philosophical, social, medical, or other professional interests in the abortion issue; interviewed women who had undergone this procedure; and conducted a review of the more than 250 studies in the literature pertaining to the psychological impact of abortion. Every effort was made to eliminate the bias that surrounds this controversial issue. It was not possible, however, to reach any conclusions about the health effects of abortion. In general, the studies on the psychological sequelae of abortion indicate a low incidence of adverse mental health effects. On the other hand, the evidence tends to consist of case studies and the few nonanecdotal reports that exist contain serious methodological flaws. In terms of the physical effects, abortion has been associated with subsequent infertility, a damaged cervix, miscarriage, premature birth, and low birthweight. Again, there are methodological problems. 1st, these events are difficult to quantify since most abortions are performed in free-standing clinics where longterm outcome is not recorded. 2nd, it is impossible to casually link these adverse outcomes to the abortion per se. Resolution of this question requires a prospective study of a cohort of women of childbearing age in reference to the variable outcomes of mating--failure to conceive, miscarriage, abortion, and delivery. Ideally, such a study would be conducted over a 5-year period and would cost approximately US$100 million
Health Matrix. 1989 Summer;7(2):42-4.

Psychological sequelae of induced abortion.

Romans-Clarkson SE.

Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.

This article reviews the scientific literature on the psychological sequelae of induced abortion. The methodology and results of studies carried out over the last twenty-two years are examined critically. The unanimous consensus is that abortion does not cause deleterious psychological effects. Women most likely to show subsequent problems are those who were pressured into the operation against their own wishes, either by relatives or because their pregnancy had medical or foetal contraindications. Legislation which restricts abortion causes problems for women with unwanted pregnancies and their doctors. It is also unjust, as it adversely most affects lower socio-economic class women.

PIP: A review of empirical studies on the psychological sequelae of induced abortion published since 1965 revealed no evidence of adverse effects. On the other hand, this review identified widespread methodological problems--improper sampling, lack of data on women's previous psychiatric history, a scarcity of prospective study designs, a lack of specified follow-up times or evaluation procedures, and a failure to distinguish between legal, illegal, and spontaneous abortions--that need to be addressed by psychiatric epidemiologists. Despite these methodological weaknesses, all 34 studies found significant improvement rather than deterioration in mental status after induced abortion. There was also a high degree of congruity in terms of predictors of adverse reactions after abortion--ambivalence about the procedure, a history of psychosocial instability, poor or absent family ties, psychiatric illness at the time of the pregnancy termination, and negative attitudes toward abortion in the broader society. As expected, criminal abortion is more likely than legal abortion to be associated with guilt, and women who have been denied therapeutic abortions report significantly greater psychosocial difficulties than those who have been granted abortion on the grounds of their precarious mental health. Overall, the research clearly attests that abortion carried out at a woman's request has no deleterious psychiatric consequences. Problems arise only when the woman undergoes pregnancy termination as a result of pressure from others. Legislation that undermines the ability of the pregnant woman to assess herself the impact of an unwanted pregnancy on her future impedes mental health and should be opposed by the psychiatric profession.
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1989 Dec;23(4):555-65

Psychological and social aspects of induced abortion.

Handy JA.

The literature concerning psychosocial aspects of induced abortion is reviewed. Key areas discussed are: the legal context of abortion in Britain, psychological characteristics of abortion-seekers, pre- and post-abortion contraceptive use, pre- and post-abortion counselling, the actual abortion and the effects of termination versus refused abortion. Women seeking termination are found to demonstrate more psychological disturbance than other women, however this is probably temporary and related to the short-term stresses of abortion. Inadequate contraception is frequent prior to abortion but improves afterwards. Few women find the decision to terminate easy and most welcome opportunities for non-judgemental counselling. Although some women experience adverse psychological sequelae after abortion the great majority do not. In contrast, refused abortion often results in psychological distress for the mother and an impoverished environment for the ensuing offspring.
Br J Clin Psychol. 1982 Feb;21 (Pt 1):29-41.

[REP]

20. APA Briefing Paper on The Impact of Abortion on Women

The Impact of Abortion on Women: What Does the Psychological Research Say?


The research shows that the ability of women to make decisions about their own childbearing (e.g., timing) is a necessary condition for their health and mental health, as well as for their families. Abortion is a safe medical procedure that carries relatively few physical or psychological risks and that yields positive outcomes when the alternative is unwanted pregnancy (Adler, Ozer, & Tschann, 2003). It is an important choice that calls for serious consideration.


Who Has Abortions?


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2003), the abortion rate was 16 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2000. The highest percentage of abortion (52%) was for women under 25 years of age, who were white (57%) and unmarried (81%). Women aged 20 to 24 obtained 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtained 19%.



Of women who had an abortion, 55% were white, 35% were black, and 7% were of other races. Black women were three times as likely as white women to have an abortion (30 versus 10 per 1,000 women), and Hispanic women were about twice as likely (22 per 1,000 women).



About three-fourths of all abortions were among never-married women. Over 60% of abortions were among women who had one or more children. About 13,000 women had an abortion following rape or incest.



Physical Risks and Consequences of Abortion


Legal abortion is less dangerous than pregnancy. In 1999, as in previous years, deaths related to legal abortions occurred very rarely, at a rate of less than one per 100,000 abortions. The overall pregnancy-related mortality rate was nearly ten times higher (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003).



Abortion may avoid negative health consequences, especially for teenage mothers. Unintended and unwanted childbearing can have negative health consequences, including greater chances for illness for both the mother and child. The adverse consequences of teenagers’ inability to control their childbearing can be particularly severe. Teenage mothers are more likely to suffer toxemia, anemia, birth complications, and death. Babies of teenage mothers are more likely to have low birth weight and suffer birth injury and neurological defects. Such babies are twice as likely to die in the first year of life as babies born to mothers who delay childbearing until after age 20 (Russo & David, 2002).



Psychological Responses Following Abortion


Low risk of psychological harm. Well-designed studies of psychological responses following abortion have consistently shown that risk of psychological harm is low. Some women experience psychological dysfunction following abortion, but post-abortion rates of distress and dysfunction are lower than pre-abortion rates. Moreover, the percentage of women who experience clinically relevant distress is small and appears to be no greater than in general samples of women of reproductive age. A recent study showed not only that rates of disorders, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were not elevated in a large sample of 442 women followed for two years post-abortion, but also that the incidence of PTSD was actually lower in women post-abortion than the rate in the general population (Adler et al., 2002).



Positive functioning and educational attainment two years later. A study of adolescent abortion followed 360 adolescents over two years after they had been interviewed when seeking a pregnancy test. Some had a negative pregnancy test, some were pregnant and carried to term, and some were pregnant and aborted their pregnancy. The adolescents who chose abortion showed significant drops in anxiety and significant increases in self esteem and internal control in the period immediately following the abortion to two years later. They appeared to be functioning as well as, or even better than, adolescents who had a negative pregnancy test or had carried to term. They were also most likely to have higher economic well-being; most likely to be in high school (and performing at grade level) or to have graduated; and less likely to have a subsequent pregnancy (Zabin, Hirsch, & Emerson, 1989).



Psychological measures within normal range. Available data show that mean scores on psychological measures are well within normal bounds for minors as well as for adults who have undergone an abortion. The data do not suggest that legal minors are at heightened risk of serious adverse psychological responses compared with adults following an abortion or with peers who have not undergone an abortion (Zabin et al., 1989).



Positive emotions more often experienced. Freely chosen legal abortion, particularly in the first trimester, has not been found to be associated with severe psychological trauma, despite the fact that it occurs in the stressful context of unwanted pregnancy. The time of greatest stress is before the abortion. A woman’s emotional responses after experiencing an unwanted pregnancy terminated by abortion are complex and may involve a combination of positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions are more often experienced, and they are experienced more strongly than negative emotions, both immediately after the abortion and during the months following it (Russo & Zierk, 1992).



Higher risk for psychopathology if pre-existing emotional problems. While there is little risk for severe post-abortion psychopathology for women in general, it is important to recognize that some women, particularly those with pre-existing emotional problems, are at higher risk for negative emotional responses after abortion due to their individual history than are other women (Russo & Zierk, 1992).



Effects of stress are relative. Abortion may be a stressful experience, however, it may also reduce the stress resulting from an unwanted pregnancy and from the events that led to the pregnancy being unwanted. The effects of abortion cannot be separated from the effects of the experience of unwanted pregnancy and from the effects of the context in which the pregnancy occurred (Russo & Zierk, 1992).



Circumstances must be taken into account. In studying responses to abortion, one needs to take into account the circumstances of the conception, as well as those following conception. If the conception is planned, the resulting pregnancy is likely to be wanted. However, changing circumstances (e.g., separation from one’s partner or adverse results of genetic testing) may cause an initially planned, intended, and wanted conception to become an unwanted pregnancy. The circumstances leading to this change may themselves be sources of stress and distress, and should be taken into account in evaluating a woman’s response following abortion. That is, in some cases, it is the unwanted pregnancy that is the source of stress, not necessarily the abortion (Adler, 1992).



Poor social outcomes often arise for unwanted children, especially of teenage mothers. Unintended and unwanted childbearing has been linked with a variety of social problems, including divorce, poverty, child abuse, and juvenile delinquency. One study found that unwanted children were less likely to have a secure family life. As adults, they were more likely to engage in criminal behavior, be on welfare, and receive psychiatric services. Another study found that children who were unintended by their mothers had lower self esteem than their intended peers 23 years later. Research has shown that social and psychological problems persist, partially because the mothers are themselves from disadvantaged backgrounds with poor prospects for future education and employment. Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to have lower achievement scores, poorer school adjustment, and more problem behaviors than children born to older women (Russo & David, 2002).



Negative outcomes persist in the best of circumstances. Longitudinal research has found that when abortion is denied, the resulting children are more likely to have a variety of social and psychological problems -- even when they are born to adult women who are healthy with intact marriages and adequate economic resources (Russo & David, 2002).

Recommendations

1. Access to legal abortion to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is vital to safeguard both the physical and mental health of women. Research indicates that abortion does not generally have a negative impact on either women’s physical or mental health. A forced, unwanted pregnancy, on the other hand, could place women’s health and well-being at risk.



2. Mental health consultation needs to be readily available for the small number of women who would benefit from such intervention following abortion. Mental health professionals should explore factors, such as psychological distress and low self esteem, that may have contributed to the unwanted pregnancy. Through the therapeutic process, it is vital to enhance the coping ability of women (including adolescents) to equip them with ways to prevent future unwanted pregnancies.


3. Education and career development programs need to be available for young women to enhance self esteem and increase access to resources associated with employment and income. Given the general decline in self esteem among adolescent girls and high rates of unintended pregnancy, the school system must begin teaching young girls that a career is in reach and that early pregnancy is not a viable alternative to a high school diploma. Professional psychologists, social workers, and guidance counselors all have important roles to play in the development of such programs.



References

Adler, N.E. (1992). Unwanted pregnancy and abortion: Definitional and research issues. Journal of Social Issues, 48(3), 19-35.

Adler, N.E., David, H.P., Major, B.N., Roth, S.H., Russo, N.F., & Wyatt, G.E. (1992). Psychological factors in abortion: A review. American Psychologist, 47, 1194-1204.

Adler, N.E., Ozer, E.J., & Tschann, J. (2003). Abortion among adolescents. American Psychologist, 58 (3), 211-217.


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2003). Abortion surveillance-United States, 2000, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 52(SS12), 1-32.


Prochoice Forum, Division 35, the Society for the Psychology of Women, the American Psychological Association. 2004

Russo, N. F., & Zierk, K.L. (1992). Abortion, childbearing, and women. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 23(4), 269-280.

Zabin, L S., Hirsch, M.B., & Emerson, M.R. (1989). When urban adolescents choose abortion: Effects on education, psychological status, and subsequent pregnancy. Family Planning Perpectives, 21, 248-255.

[Heddi]

22. Thanks SO much for these studies

I'm a nursing student and I hope to work in community/public health centers and even now I have to deal with the "abortion issue" in class and in clinic on a regular basis. I'm glad these studies are done, and they really reinforce *MY* intial beliefs as to why SOME women have long-term "unresolved issues"---NOT because of the abortion itself.

Thanks again. This page is bookmarked!!!

hed

[REP]

35. More Longitudinal Studies

The Relationship of Abortion to Well-being: Do Race and Religion Make a Difference?
Nancy Felipe Russo and Amy J. Dabul
Professional Psychology, Research and Practice, 1997, Vol. 28, No , 23-31

Relationships of abortion and childbearing to well-being were examined for 1,189 Black and 3,147 White women. Education, income, and having a work role were positively and independently related to well-being for all women. Abortion did not have an independent relationship to well-being, regardless of race or religion, when well-being before becoming pregnant was controlled. These findings suggest professional psychologists should explore the origins of women's mental health problems in experiences predating their experience of abortion, and they can assist psychologists in working to ensure that mandated scripts from 'informed consent' legislation do not misrepresent scientific findings.


RUSSO, NANCY FELIPE
ZIERK, K.
Abortion, Childbearing, and Women's Well-Being
Professional Psychology, Research and Practice 23 (1992): 269-280.
Also, http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/psy_research5.asp
Cohort(s): NLSY79
ID Number: 4029
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)

This study is based on a secondary analysis of NLSY interview data from 5,295 women who were interviewed annually from 1979 to 1987. Among this group 773 women were identified in 1987 as having at least one abortion, with 233 of them reporting repeat abortions. Well-being was assessed in 1980 and 1987 by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The researchers used analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression to examine the combined and separate contributions of preabortion self-esteem, contextual variables (education, employment, income, and marital status), childbearing (being a parent, numbers of wanted and unwanted children) and abortion (having one abortion, having repeat abortions, number of abortions, time since last abortion) to women's post abortion self-esteem.

[intheflow]

21. You're right, I should have some "some".

I'm just reporting what I've encountered in over 20 years of trying to engage in dialogue with Christian Coalition and Operation Rescure women. BTW, the Operation Rescue people are all insane. It's really only the Christina Coalition women I've been able to have rational conversations with.

[Heddi]

23. But you understand

that if your experience with women who have long term unresolved issues are primarly women who are ultra Christians, that their unresolved issues have more to do with their situation that CAUSED Them to have an abortion rather than the abortion itself, right?

[intheflow]

25. I don't think you can make general blanket assumptions like that.

The majority of women that I've spoken with were pro-choice at the tme of their abortions. They didn't get millitantly anti-abortion until they "found Jesus" and started being told that they had committed murder. 10 or 20 years changes people. I know you'd love to think every one of them had problems before, but that's not the what I've heard from mot of the women I'm referrig to.

[Heddi]

26. So you're blatantly ignoring scientific research

in favour of personal antecdotal evidence.

Again---I reiterate--their 'issues' are NOT regarding the abortion, but regarding other things---in the cases you're referring to, these women ADMIT that they had no problems with the abortion when it was done and only had "issues" once a religious twist was put on it.

Why can you not see that it is not the ABORTION (as in the medical procedure of terminating a pregnancy) that they have issues with.

What they have issues with are the situation SURROUNDING their abortion. If they were pro-choice and suddenly became religious fanatics, it is the RELIGION that caused them to have long-term effecs, NOT the abortion. It is the RELIGIOUS CONNOTATION OF MURDER that gives them pause, not their actions 10 or 20 years earlier.

And I know you'd love to think that every single woman that has an abortion ends up with "unresolved issues" 10 or 20 years down the line, but the scientific research presented by REP above proves that YOU are wrong.

[intheflow]

27. Why are you fighting with me?

I'm on your side. I am a member on NARAL, the Feminist Majority, Planned Parenthood, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

I was commenting on my personal experience, as someone who is pained by the spit among women on this issue, looking for a way to heal female relationships with each other and throughout society. You have chosen to interpret my comments as somehow anti-choice, parsing my posts as narrowly and fundamentally as any RWer screaming Bible quotes out of context.

Reel your attack line in. You're fishing in the wrong pond.

Me at the March for Women's Lives

[REP]

28. Let Me Barge In!

Without knowing any of the women who have been counseled by ITF, I am only guessing that those women claim that they now have problems with their abortions since converting to a new religion. There is really no good reason to doubt their claim; after all, *something* is bothering them enough that they are seeking counseling; however, a detailed history and honest assessment *by these women* might reveal that something other than the abortion itself is at the root of their current distress, whether it be the guilt inflicted upon them by their new peers; a disappointment over circumstances in the past or a myriad of other reasons - including termination of a wanted pregnancy either under coercion or due to fetal abnormality.

Without diminishing ITF's experience, she's not posting as a clinical psychologist but a lay counselor at a UU church, which may not require rigorous research and study but only kindness and understanding.

[intheflow]

29. Thanks, REP.

That sums it up exactly! :pals:

[iverglas]

30. I hear you too

Let's never forget that the "Christian" right makes it their business ... and makes a business of ... inducing guilt in women who have had abortions.

There's no reason at all to think that it doesn't work on some women.

I would venture to say that large numbers of women "regret" having an abortion in some way -- for instance, in the way that I regret not doing graduate studies in economics. It is something I could have done, and that would have made my life very different from what it has been, and I might have liked that life better.

As it happens, I've been quite fond of my life (for a long time, a lawyer representing and advocating for refugees). But you never know, I might have felt more fulfilled and happier if I'd become an economist.

If I didn't like my life -- if going to law school had led to a life of boring drudgery and little opportunity to find happiness or influence the world for the better, I might regret not going to grad school a little more keenly.

And then I might be more prone to imagining that if only I'd gone to grad school, my life would have been wonderful, and becoming convinced that I should not have gone to law school ... and, maybe, that women should not go to law school.

And if there were a well-organized, well-funded, deviously clever and manipulative bunch of people in my vicinity talking constantly about how bad law school is for women, and how women who go to law school will regret it forever, and how it is immoral and contrary to Jesus' teachings for women to go to law school (perhaps the option I discarded wasn't going to grad school, it was getting married and dropping out of school) ... well, who knows what might happen?

It might be a lot easier for me to fall in with them, rather than to seek insight into who I was 35 years ago and what influences there were on my decision, and accept whatever responsibility I have for that decision -- and get on with my life.

Have you seen this, btw?

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9804/articles/swope.html

Abortion:
A Failure to Communicate

Paul Swope

... The importance of a new approach became clear from the results of sophisticated research pioneered by the Caring Foundation, a group that presents the pro-life message to the public via television. This group has been able to tap into some of the most advanced psychological research available today, so-called "right brain" research. (The distinction between "right brain" and "left brain" activity may be physiologically oversimplified or even wrong, but it remains useful as a shorthand description of different ways of thinking.)

The right side of the brain is thought to control the emotional, intuitive, creative aspect of the person. Whereas most research involves analytic, rational questions and thus draws responses primarily from the left side of the brain, "right brain" research aims to uncover the underlying emotional reasons why we make particular decisions or hold certain beliefs. Such an approach has obvious applications to an issue such as abortion, as a woman in the grips of a crisis pregnancy certainly does not resolve this issue in a cold, logical, "left-brain" manner.

... When these women evaluate the abortion decision, therefore, they do not, as a pro-lifer might, formulate the problem with the radically distinct options of either "I must endure an embarrassing pregnancy" or "I must destroy the life of an innocent child." Instead, their perception of the choice is either "my life is over" or "the life of this new child is over." Given this perspective, the choice of abortion becomes one of self-preservation, a much more defensible position, both to the woman deciding to abort and to those supporting her decision.

Even those women who are likely to choose life rather than abortion do so not because they better understand fetology or have a greater love for children, but because they have a broader and less fragile sense of self, and they can better incorporate motherhood into their self-identity.

If that's how they go after women considering abortion, imagine how they go for the more "fragile" ones afterward.

[intheflow]

33. Thanks for the link.

That's a scary journal, isn't it? But it certainly illustrates the way they spin their propaganda. I went and poked around some of the other issues, each scarier than the next, and all written in "academian" to give it some semblence of authority. Scary indeed.

I also really like your comparison of regret. It's true that of my friends and family who have had abortions (not the Christian Coalition/OR crowd), they have always kind of wondered about what life would have been life if they had not aborted a pregancy. It's not a dibilitating depression, but more like Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." And they're all still very pro-choice. :)

[REP]

34. Glad I Got It Right

:hi:

[friesianrider]

17. I have done post-abortion counseling for several years...

At a clinic I volunteer at. Only two women out of literally hundreds had long-term problems, and one was a wanted child who would have died shortly after birth, and the other was a girl who was pressured (forced, more like it) to abort by her ultra-religious parents.

I've found that the only women who regret the abortion are ones who wanted the child but either had to terminate or were forced into the decision by someone else.

[DanCa]

5. Text book Jung psycholgy

1) Those that which truly upsets us are a reflection of ourselves.
Why do you think that they hate us for not wanting to go to war? We don't want to shoot people and watch em die. Somewhere deep down the repugs know that too. That's why they are so insulting towards us.


They can't reconcile the mixed messages of false patriotism of guns and "W", with whatever moral/religous teachings they have that tells them "thou shall not kill" and they resent the fact that we can. And rather than admit that they are wrong they they slam us because we have courage to admit patriotism some times means crossing the party line.

In other words it's easier to drag someone down to your level than to build someone up to yours. Have a great weekend Danny.

[TheFarseer]

6. interesting read

Funny how the mind reacts when you become what you hate.

[newswolf56]

8. This kind of hypocrisy is one of the identifying characteristics...

of Christofascists and Fundamentalists in general. And like the woman the Colorado doctor described, they are absolutely vicious when challenged on it.

[wli]

10. we should pump this one hard!

:kick:

[SeanQuinn]

24. That last woman was rude and stupid.

Come on? You're getting an abortion and you're critizing your doctor?

That'd be like me getting a physical and saying that my doctor sucked at the physical and he should go to hell for it.

[iverglas]

31. credit where it's due!

The excerpts are actually from an article by Joyce Arthurs (that's been posted here from time to time), a Canadian writer on feminism and atheism and what not:

http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/

The person at About.com should really have credited it, since it's a copyright article.

[iverglas]

32. another classic Joyce Arthurs article

http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/civilize.html

"Legal abortion: the sign of a civilized society"

(it was written in 1999, so not all aspects of the geographical overview are still accurate, but it's a good background piece)

[Payne]

36. I've always hated those signs that say I regret my abortion.

What they really mean is that I got to kick the ladder out from under me to relieve my guilt.