Some women feel an initial sense of relief after their abortion. Others may experience an intense negative reaction. Some say this is because they did not know what would happen during the procedure. Others experience long-lasting emotional effects which remain unresolved. There is evidence that abortion is associated with a decrease in long-term emotional, physical and mental health (5).
In danger of losing your relationship if you don’t have an abortion? Here are some stats worth knowing. Most relationships that experience an abortion don’t survive (6).Evidence shows choosing abortion to “save the relationship” almost never works.
Men can be affected by abortion too. Many men have reported post-abortion problems such as feelings of grief, helplessness and guilt; sexual dysfunction; substance abuse; self-hatred; fear of relationships; risk-taking and suicidal behavior; depression; greater tendencies toward becoming angry and violent; and a sense of lost manhood (7).
1. Pedersen, W. (2007). Childbirth, abortion and subsequent substance use in young women: a population-based longitudinal study. Addiction, 102 (12), 1971-78.
2. Coleman, P.K. (2005) Induced abortion and increased risk of substance abuse: a review of the evidence. Current Women’s Health Reviews, 1 (21), 21-24.
3. Curley, M., Johnson, C. (2013). The characteristics and severity of psychological distress after abortion among university students. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, dol: 10.107/s11414-013-9328-0.
Coleman, P.K. (2010). Late-term elective abortion and susceptibility to posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of Pregnancy, Retrieved on July, 20 2014 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21490737/ .
Sulliman S, Ericksen T, Labuschgne T, de Wit R, Stein D, Seedat S. (2007). Comparison of pain, cortisol levels and psychological distress in women undergoing surgical termination of pregnancy under local anesthesia versus intravenous sedation. BMC Psychiatry, 7:24 doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-7-24.
4. Gissler, M., et al. (2005). Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000. European Journal of Public Health, 15,459-463.
5. Fergusson, D.M., Horwood, J., Ridder, E.M. (2006). Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health. Journal of Child Pyschology and Psychiatry,47, 16-24.
6. Franke, L. Bird, The Ambivalence of Abortion (New York: Random House Inc., 1978) p. 63. See also Reardon, Aborted Women, 45.
7. Strahan, T., “Portraits of Post-Abortive Fathers Devastated by the Abortion Experience,” Assoc. for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change, Nov./Dec. 1994.
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