We have serious reservations about the usefulness of checklists used in therapy and counseling. It is very likely that the checklist gave 4 false positives. One of us is a male, and none of the three female staff persons have ever had an abortion. All had terminated their first pregnancy during the first trimester giving mental health as their reason for seeking an abortion. Long term guilt or depression were rare.
Elective abortion is less traumatic than giving a child up for adoption.
Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a famous opponent of abortion, was asked by President Reagan to study the health effects of induced abortions. If severe emotional reactions were common, then they would have expected to notice an epidemic of women seeking treatment. No evidence of such a flood was observed. The American Psychological Association conducted an 8 year study involving almost 5,295 women, starting in 1979. The women were interviewed each year until 1987.