From: kauff@neit.cgd.ucar.edu (Brian Kauffman)
Subject: regrets: abortion completed/denied  (short)
Organization: NCAR, Boulder CO
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:12:06 GMT

Abortion is a tough call, no doubt some will regret their decision
REGARDLESS OF which decision was made -- and who made it.   
Who thinks they're so smart that they know the best decision for everyone?
(raise your hands, let's see..., 1,2,3,..., hmm...)
Appearantly it's time to remind some folks that there is NO EASY ANSWER.
(see the companion post for the full paper)

========================================================================
From: psb@eesun1.eece.ksu.edu (Phil Buckland)

SOURCE:
the American Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 148, Issue 5, May 1991.  
copyright by the American Psychiatric Association ((C) 1991) 
copied without permission.

The Psychological Sequelae of Theraputic Abortion - Denied and Completed
by Paul K.B. Dagg, M.D.,  Department of Psychiatry,  Mount Sinai Hospital.

	_________________________________________________________________

	  OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to review the available
	literature on the psychological sequelae of theraputic abortion,
	addressing both the issue of the effects of the abortion on the
	woman involved and the effects on the women 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, inter-
	personal, 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 theraputic 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)
	_________________________________________________________________

[...]

DISCUSSION

	In spite of numerous difficulties facing researchers who attempt
	to address the issue of theraputic abortion, the findings do appear
	to be remarkably uniform.  Precise answers, unaffected by bias, are
	probably not possible, but the research examined here does highlight
	several things.

	Immediately after abortion, symptoms of distress and dysphoria do
	occur in many women.  However, these symptoms seem to be continuations
	of symptoms present before the abortion and more a result of the
	circumstances leading to the abortion than a result of the procedure
	itself.  Indeed, many studies report significant positive feelings
	after the abortion.  When the women are studied over the course of
	the episode, the dysphoria is found to wane after the abortion.
	Longer-term studies, over months and years, show similar trends;
	the majority of women express positive reactions to the abortion,
	and only a small minority express any degree of regrets.  Similarly,
	negative feelings present before abortion disappear, with normalization
	of various scores.
[...]

	When abortion is denied, a different picture seems to arise.  Many
	women, up to 40% in some studies, have the abortions elsewhere,
	depending on availability.  Relatively few of the children are put
	up for adoption, and the majority born of unwanted pregnancies are
	raised by their biological mother.  A significant minority - about
	30% - of the women examined in the few long-term studies continue
	to report negative feelings toward their child and difficulty in
	adjusting.

	Finally, the most disturbing part of the whole issue is the evidence
	of significant negative effect on the child.  With the caveat that
	the unwanted pregnancy does not necessarily result in an unwanted
	child, the carefully designed and executed prospective studies of
	Matejcek et al., Hook, Blomberg, and Forssman and Thuwe reveal long-
	lasting, broadly based, negative effects of the denial of abortion on
	the children subsequently raised in the situation that the parents
	had tried so desperately to avoid.

	While this paper has not addressed any of the ethical issues raised
	by theraputic abortion, it has attempted to give a psychiatric
	perspective that has hitherto been unavailable in this debate.
	Further research on some of the questions examined is important,
	particularly if society moves toward more restrictive legislation
	on the issue, since the question of the effects on the mother and
	child in particular has only begun to be explored.

[...]
Newsgroups: talk.abortion