Wounded Healers: Abortion and the Affective Practices of Pro-Life Health Care.

For some post-Roe abortion providers, the emotional cost of their abortion practice was untenable. By the 1980s, former abortion providers had become prominent anti-abortion advocates. Although physicians such as Beverly McMillan grounded their pro-life conversions in medical technologies and "fetological" research, affective connections to the fetus animated their activism. McMillan explained that through abortion practice, the medical profession - her vocation - had gone astray, and her pro-life activism was the cure to the resulting emotional damage. For these physicians, emotional well-being could only be recovered through principled attempts to right the perceived wrongs of the medical profession. Another group of emotionally-engaged pro-life health workers emerged from their pasts as abortion patients. Myriad post-abortion narratives followed the same trajectory: the woman reluctantly underwent an abortion, and was subsequently plagued by apathy, depression, grief, guilt, and substance-use disorders. Pro-life research came to understand this cluster of symptoms as Post-abortion Syndrome (PAS). Some women, such as Susan Stanford-Rue, opted to heal from their pain by becoming PAS counselors. Just as the "reformed" physicians combined their affective experiences with their medical expertise to argue against abortion, the counselors merged emotion and psychiatric language to redefine what it meant to be an "aborted woman" and therefore a PAS counselor. Examining pro-life publications, Christian counseling manuals, and activist speeches, this article argues that, for these activists, science and technology provided the rationale to make abortion unthinkable, but it was the activists' emotional framework that made this rationale pro-life in the first place.

Men and 'post abortion syndrome': claims versus evidence.

PURPOSE: Recent studies have focused on the pseudo-psychological condition 'post abortion syndrome' and women, particularly the content and veracity of these claims in the USA. What such claims say about men and the accuracy of these claims remains unclear, and we seek to remedy this. METHODS: The study proceeded in two parts. First, we identified primary documents from anti-abortion activists in the USA making claims about men and post abortion syndrome and analysed them for assertions about the effects of abortion upon men. Second, we searched Google Scholar using the terms 'men' and 'abortion' to identify 41 peer reviewed articles that included (1) thorough descriptions of sampling, data collection, and analysis, (2) acknowledgement of the limitations, and (3) findings/discussion that do not extrapolate beyond the scope of the data. RESULTS: We compared U.S. activists' claims with scholarly findings. Activists claims rely on gender essentialism, arguing men should stop women from aborting to prevent psychological disorders and disruption of traditional family and sexual norms. In contrast, scientific studies find a range of minor psychological responses but not responses akin to post abortion syndrome to be common. CONCLUSION: Similar to findings about women and abortion, we do not find support for anti-abortion activists' claims or the existence of post abortion syndrome among men.

Unintended Pregnancy, Induced Abortion, and Mental Health.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The early medical literature on mental health outcomes following abortion is fraught with methodological flaws that can improperly influence clinical practice. Our goal is to review the current medical literature on depression and other mental health outcomes for women obtaining abortions. RECENT FINDINGS: The Turnaway Study prospectively enrolled 956 women seeking abortion in the USA and followed their mental health outcomes for 5 years. The control group was comprised of women denied abortions based on gestational age limits, thereby circumventing the major methodological flaw that had plagued earlier studies on the topic. Rates of depression are not significantly different between women obtaining abortion and those denied abortion. Rates of anxiety are initially higher in women denied abortion care. Counseling on decision-making for women with unintended pregnancies should reflect these findings.

Aborto y salud mental de la mujer / Aborto e saúde mental da mulher / Abortion and the mental health of women

La existencia o no de alteraciones de la salud mental de la mujer como consecuencia del aborto es algo que suscita en el momento actual un vivo debate, pues, junto a convencidos profesionales que defienden su existencia, otros se manifiestan totalmente opuestos a ello. Para abordar este tema hemos evaluado algunas de las más recientes revisiones que nos han parecido de calidad metodológica contrastada, así como también algunos de los últimos artículos publicados. Podemos concluir que no existe un síndrome posaborto como tal, pero sí trastornos psicológicos secundarios al aborto. Finalmente, reflexionamos sobre en qué medida el sentimiento de culpabilidad que la mujer pueda experimentar por haber abortado podría influir en la presentación o no de trastornos psicológicos tras el acto abortivo.

The existence or the lack of alterations of mental health of women as consequence of abortion currently arises a lively debate, since, while there are convinced professionals defending its existence, others are completely opposed to it. In order to examine this issue we have evaluated some of most recent reviews considering they have contrasted methodological value, as well as some of the latest published articles. We can conclude that there is no post abortion syndrome as such, but there are secondary psychological disorders after abortion. Finally, we reflect about in which extent the feeling of guilt that woman may experiment for having aborted may influence the presentation or not of psychological disorders after the abortion act.

A existência ou não de alterações da saúde mental da mulher como consequência do aborto é algo que suscita no momento atual um vivo debate, pois, junto a convencidos profissionais que defendem a sua existência, outros se manifestam totalmente opostos a isso. Para abordar este tema avaliamos algumas das mais recentes revisões que nos pareceram de qualidade metodológica comprovada, assim como também alguns dos últimos artigos publicados. Podemos concluir que não existe uma síndrome pós-aborto como tal, mas sim transtornos psicológicos secundários ao aborto. Finalmente, refletimos sobre em que medida o sentimento de culpabilidade que a mulher pode experimentar por haver abortado poderia influir na apresentação ou não de transtornos psicológicos após o ato abortivo.

The spread of 'Post Abortion Syndrome' as social diagnosis.

This paper examines the content of Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS) claims, the social actors involved and how this social diagnosis bypassed professional dissent and diffused into public policy in the United States. Previous works on the spread of PAS focus on almost exclusively on anti-abortion think tanks and policymakers. Missing from these analyses, however, is an emphasis on the grassroots-level actions undertaken by evangelical crisis pregnancy center (CPC) activists in introducing and circulating PAS claims. The CPC movement introduced PAS claims and provided the fodder for anti-abortion think tanks to construct evidence of pro-life claims. Despite dissent from health professionals and academic researchers, CPC PAS claims successfully diffused into federal and state abortion policy. I draw upon Brown et al.'s social diagnosis framework and Armstrong's five-stage model of diagnosis development to frame this account.

Síndrome post-aborto: reacciones psicológicas post-aborto / Post-abortion syndrome

El efecto que el aborto produce en la salud mental de la mujer que lo vivencia, sobre todo si es provocado, es un tema preocupante. Numerosas investigaciones y la experiencia clínica demuestran que las reacciones psicológicas varían de una mujer a otra, pero que en ningún caso es inocuo. Las distintas investigaciones y la experiencia clínica describen desde reacciones ansiosas, depresivas, sentimientos de vacío y dolor, hasta un síndrome específico, el síndrome post-aborto, el cual presentaría casi las mismas características del estrés pos-traumático.

The effect that abortion produces on the mental health of woman who have experienced one, especially if provoked, is a topic of concern. Numerous investigations and clinical experience demonstrate that psychological reactions differ from one woman to another, but in no case is it innocuous. Different research and clinical experience describe a range from anxiety, depressive reaction, feelings of emptiness and pain up to a specific syndrome, post-abortion syndrome, which presents almost the same characteristics as post-traumatic stress.