Abstract

PIP: Although voluntary abortion is a choice made by the woman, there are many psychological factors involved and often after the abortion many women have lasting psychological reactions which may go on for many months or years. Looking back upon a study conducted on 1000 women in Geneva in 1971, abortion was not always found to be a true choice, but rather the last remedy for reestablishing a balance that an unwanted child disturbs. Research conducted in Geneva, London, and New York showed that the case histories of women who had resorted to abortion revealed affective disorders and traumas of a conflicting nature toward their mothers going back to their childhood. These women displayed a distorted affectivity, both on the sexual plane and also in couple relationships. The desire for pregnancy seems to persist even after the abortion, but there is a contradictory affection because the child on the 1 hand is loved, but on the other is looked upon as a rival destined to do away with his parents. In 1973 WHO reported that many women who had resorted to abortion frequently suffered remorse and regret later followed by a sense of relief. However, 3-6 months after the abortion the event continued as an agonizing memory. Recent surveys taken in Switzerland proved that often the choice of an abortion made on a rational basis could clash with an unconscious but intense desire for pregnancy, and the sense of guilt which remained at a latent level was often responsible for the difficulty in getting through the trauma. The trauma that accompanies abortion is 1st somatic and then psychic. The somatic part can be partially avoided by refining the intervention techniques, but the psychic part can be dealt with only by psychological intervention and, unlike the somatic trauma, its effects last much longer. While the women is making the decision to have the abortion, she is in balance; when the abortion is actually performed, however, the choice no longer exists because the ultimate goal has been achieved and she falls out of balance due to her conflicting feelings. It is best that decisions of this nature be made slowly because the psychological effects of a hasty decision can go on long after abortion.