Abortion

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The Emotion Behind Abortion

In the past few years, a new question concerning abortion has surfaced. It is the the question of whether or not abortion and severe psychologicaldisorders are linked. This question has added to the controversial debate overabortion issues. Prior research has been "motivated by theory or politicalideology" (Cohen, 140). Many studies have been biased due to thepre-conceived notions and values of the researchers. Proponents andopponents of abortion have presented different arguments, backed by research,about whether or not mental health problems develop due to the decision toterminate a pregnancy. Most studies have concluded that chosen abortion is notfound to be associated with psychological disorders, but there are a few thathave found abortion to contribute to severe depression, severe guilt, suicidalthoughts, extreme anxiety, intense rage, and passivity. This constellation ofsymptoms has been called "post-abortion syndrome" (Costa, 11). Obviously,abortion is a very emotional experience due to the fact that child-bearing is aninherent part of a female's role in society. Although post-abortion syndrome mayexist, there is much evidence supporting the claim that abortion has no long termmental effects.

Almost 1 1/ million American women each year undergo this surgicalprocedure (Cozzarelli, 454). Almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned,although unwanted pregnancy is not an uncontrollable life event (Major, 587). Itis clear that women respond to abortion with a range of different reactions. Afew studies have looked at self-efficacy, social support, social conflict, andself-esteem, as these all play either a positive or negative role in coping.

Terminating a pregnancy can be a negative experience for many women. Both self-efficacy and self-esteem serve as factors in coping with negative lifeevents. Self-esteem is defined by confidence and satisfaction with oneself. In astudy conducted by Cozzarelli, Sumer, and Major (18), it is hypothesized thatwomen with a "positive model of self would report higher feelings of self-efficacy" when dealing with abortion than those with a negative model. They proposedthat self-efficacy would act as the mediator of the model of self and post-abortionadjustment. They also hypothesized that women who were secure with theirwell-being as a whole would feel that their partner was supportive. This supportthat came from the partners would act as the mediator between the effects of"mental models on post-abortion and positive well-being". Concerning socialconflict, they predicted that women with a sense of security would not sensetension and conflict with their partners and this would act as the mediatorbetween "the effects of mental models on post-abortion distress".

The 615 women who participated completed detailed questionnaires,medical history forms, and met with counselors individually and then in groups offive or six. Those who agreed to do so filled out another proceduralquestionnaire after they had gone through all other steps mentioned above. After the thirty minute recovery period, another questionnaire was handed out. Only twenty seven percent of the women showed up for their follow-up visit andwere again asked to fill out a questionnaire. Those who did not show up wereasked to mail in their follow-up questionnaire or were interviewed by acpounselor at an agreed upon place. The women who participated in thefollow-up study received twenty dollars.

The results concluded that 40% of the women felt secure, % felt fearful,1% felt dismissing, and % felt preoccupied (458). They also found that thewomen had a more "positive model of self" than of others. The model of self andself-esteem were positively correlated with post-abortion positive well-being andthey were both negatively correlated with post-abortion distress. Their studyrevealed that the women with "a positive model of self reported higher levels ofself-efficacy for coping with abortion" (45) than those with a negative one. Those women with a sense of security reported that their partners providedpositive support and together, they experienced the least conflict, which alsowas hypothesized. Thus, the results conjured that the model of self was farmore important when it comes to coping with abortion than the model of others.

Another study conducted by Major, Mueller, and Hildebrandt (185)examined two important factors that previous research had yet to explore. Theylooked to see the degree to which the pregnancy was intended, and whether ornot the woman was accompanied by her partner to the abortion clinic. Theystate that no one had examined the effect of actual physical presence of thepartner. The 47 women who participated, 8 of which were accompanied bytheir partner, all aborted using the vacuum aspiration method within the firsttrimester of their pregnancy. All the women were asked to fill out aquestionnaire, answering questions concerning the person or source of blamefor the pregnancy. They met with counselors in small groups to discuss issueslike birth control and reproduction. It was taken into account whether or not thepatient was accompanied by a partner. After the thirty minute recovery periodwas over, they were given the coping measures in small groups. The studyfollowed the same guidelines as the previous, bringing the women back for afollow-up questionnaire.

The results displayed that most of the women chose not to place theblame on "certain attribution categories" at all. Among the women, 65% did notblame another person, 4% did not blame their character, 4% did not blameany aspect of the situation, 1% did not blame chance (50). The women whochose to place the blame on an attribution category tended to place the blameon the lack of birth control availability. Those women who did blame theirpregnancy on their characters dealt with coping worse than those who did not. Thus, women who blamed themselves were more depressed, expected negativeconsequences, and were found to experience more negative moods. Contradicting to what they hypothesized though, the women who wereaccompanied by their partners to the clinic coped with the experience worsethan those who were not accompanied (5). They assumed that if the malepartner accompanied these women, there would be a better chance of copingpositively and quickly.

The study conducted by Cohen and Roth (184) follows the theory that"approach" and "avoidance" are the primary differences in coping styles. Avoidance would be characterized by avoiding the entire situation completely,for example, not talking about it or keeping oneself from getting upset when theissue is brought up. Approach would be characterized by talking about it orthinking of ways to improve the situation. Cohen and Roth feel that avoidancestrategies are useful because they reduce distress and anxiety whereasapproach strategies "allow for appropriate action and for ventilation of affect(140).

The 55 women who took part in the experiment all used the dilation andevacuation method and all of the termination's were done within the firsteighteen weeks of the pregnancy. Again, all of the women were asked to fill outquestionnaires before the abortion and five hours after the recovery period. Thetime between entering the clinic and the actual procedure, besides a pelvicexam, was spent in small groups of counseling.

Their results differed slightly from those of the studies previouslymentioned. They found that when the women entered the clinic, a large majorityfelt distressed, anxious, depressed, and reported a sense of denial. But from thetime that they entered the clinic, to the time they entered the recovery room, theirdistress decreased. In regards to their theory, they concluded that none of thewomen could be defined as either "approachers" or "avoiders". That is, none ofthe women avoided the fact of the abortion but none of them tried to improve thesituation by thinking of different ways or talking about it. They found that the useof approach strategies was associated with a decrease of anxiety (144).

Meg Gerrard (177) studied "sex guilt" among abortion patients in acollege community, which Mosher and Cross define as "a personality dispositionthat is manifested by resistance to sexual temptation, inhibited sexual behavior,or the disruption of cognitive processes in sex-related situations". Gerrardwished to understand whether or not sex guilt is related to unplannedpregnancy. She administered a sex guilt test made by Mosher (171) to a groupof abortion patients and to a group of non-pregnant, sexually active women.These two sets of scores were then compared with one another. She discoveredthat the abortion patients had significantly higher sex guilt than the non-pregnantwomen. She then broke everyone into five groups according to the methods ofcontraception, and the sex guilt scores for the women in the abortion group weremuch higher than those of the non-pregnant group. The results of her studysimply prove that abortion patients have higher sex guilt than sexually active,non-pregnant, college women (708).

Russo and Zierk (1) followed a group of women over the course ofeight years for their research. This study was unique in that it included a large,nationally representative sample of women in conducting this research. Theyexplored the question of whether or not well-being is directly related to abortionand if elapsed time since the abortion changes the correlation between the two. They conducted their study between the years of 17-187, when abortion waslegal in the United States. Interviewed were 5,5 women all between the agesof -0, while careful calculations were taken in two year intervals. The womenanswered a number of questions concerning the number of abortions they had ,their age at their first abortion, and their age at their last abortion. They werealso asked about previous pregnancies and births and whether or not they werewanted, whether or not they had children at the time, and the number ofunwanted births. Women were then asked about their well-being by agreeing ordisagreeing with statements like "I am a person of worth" and "I am as capableas others" (71).

Their results answered the questions posed earlier. They found that thewell-being of women who had abortions was not less than that of women whohad not. In fact, the self-esteem score in 187 that was calculated at the end ofthe study was higher among the women who had an abortion. They concludedthat having had one abortion was positively related to higher global self-esteem,namely feelings of self-worth, the feeling of being capable, and not feeling thatone is a failure. Concerning the women who had repeat abortions, their level ofself-esteem was lower than that level of the women who had only one abortion. Women who had more than one abortion were more likely to agree with thestatement, "I do not have much to be proud of" but their responses did not differwith those women who had never had an abortion. The lowest level ofself-esteem came from the women who had unwanted births. Thus, the fact thatpositive relationships between abortion and well-being, according to Russo andZierk, is due to women having one abortion. (74)

Research also suggests that there are a few groups of women who are ata higher risk of experiencing emotional problems before and after thetermination of a pregnancy. Those women who have previously experiencedpsychological problems are more likely to experience negative effects as well asyounger women, those who lack the steady support of a partner and of family,those whose decision-process was much more difficult, those who terminate thepregnancy farther along than suggested or those who intend to be pregnant butthen chose to abort for some reason or the other. Also, women who simply arenot emotionally stable before the abortion takes place are at a higher risk. (Major, )

In all the research I have read, there is not enough supporting evidence toconclude that women will experience negative psychological problems after thetermination of their pregnancy. Indeed, the decision is understandably difficultand the experience itself is a negative aspect of a fundamental need of womento reproduce. Directly after the procedure, there may be guilt and regret but it isalso, in most cases, quickly realized that the decision was made for a reason. The answer is still up in the air and research is still being done. In 187, thenPresident Ronald Reagan appointed C. Everett Koop, the then surgeon general,to come up with a complete report on the psychological and medical trauma ofabortion. Even he could not come up with a specific answer. "Despite a diligentreview," he stated, "the scientific studies do not provide conclusive data on thehealth effects of abortion on women" (Russo, 1). For younger girls, it may bea step towards maturity, as they are the only one's who can make the decision. In most cases, no one else is going to make it for them. For some women, itcould give them a hold on their life, a sense of control. And for many, I thinkrelief would be the after affect. Every woman is different and every woman'sexperience is going to differ, no matter what research says. I feel it is the type ofwoman you are mentally and the given situation you are in that is the decidingfactor of how well you handle the procedure of abortion.

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