Abortion and health

Post-Abortion Syndrome:
Summary, symptoms, frequency

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Summary:

As in so many other aspects of elective abortion, the pro-life and pro-choice sides are poles apart over the after-effects of the procedure.

	Many pro-life groups conclude that a large percentage of women who have undergone an abortion experience serious depression, and massive feelings of guilt that last for years. This has been called "Post-traumatic abortion syndrome," "Post abortion syndrome," "Post-abortion stress syndrome," "PAS," and "PASS".
	Many pro-choice advocates from secular groups agree that PAS exists, but believe that it is rare.
	A major longitudinal study by the American Psychological Associated was unable to detect any evidence of PAS.
	A representative of the APA has testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that PAS does exist, but is less common than post-partum depression after a birth.
	A commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) points to PAS as a rare post-abortion phenomenon.

PAS seems to happen primarily to women who, at the time that they had an abortion, experienced one or more of the following experiences:

	Believed that the fetus was not a human being, and changed their beliefs later.
	Believed that the fetus was a human being, but proceeded with the abortion anyway.
	Felt heavily pressured, either by family, friends, or circumstances, into having an abortion that the didn't want.
	Did not received adequate counseling and information before the abortion.

Symptoms of PAS:

One writer, ₁ a pro-life PAS counselor, lists about 2 dozen indicators of PAS. These were taken from a PAS checklist developed by Anne Speckhard and Vincent Rue. Some symptoms that she included are:

	Appearance since the abortion of  at least three symptoms related to "persistent avoidance of the stimuli associated with the abortion trauma or numbing of general responsiveness" out of a list of 8 possibilities
	Appearance since the abortion of at least two symptoms from a list of 10 specific behaviors.

OCRT Note: We have serious reservations about the usefulness of checklists used in therapy and counseling. The 4 volunteers in our group compared our life experience over the past decade with the indicators in this checklist, and concluded that all of us are suffering from PAS. 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.

How common is PAS?

	In 1995, Dr. Paul Sachdef, professor of social work at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, conducted 70 in-depth interviews of women who had elective abortions during the previous 6 to 12 months. 2 They are typical of women who have sought abortions: aged 18 to 25, single, white females. All had terminated their first pregnancy during the first trimester giving mental health as their reason for seeking an abortion. He concluded: 3 Two-thirds of the woman had only used contraceptives rarely or not at all. Three-fourths of the woman thought they would not become pregnant. Almost 80% "felt relief and satisfaction" soon after the abortion. Long term guilt or depression were rare. Elective abortion is less traumatic than giving a child up for adoption. Women do not lightly decide to have an elective abortion.
	June Scandiffino (Toronto ON Right to Life) disagreed with his findings. She wonders about the 10% of women who declined to be interviewed. She maintains that the "Post-traumatic abortion syndrome" may not emerge until perhaps seven years after the elective abortion.
	Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a famous opponent of abortion, was asked by President Reagan to study the health effects of induced abortions. He responded in a 1989-JAN-8 letter that he could not form a conclusion from the available data. A year later, Dr. Koop told representatives of some pro-life groups that the risk of significant emotional problems after an abortion was "miniscule".
	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. The researchers found that the best predictor of of the women's well-being during the study was their well-being at the start of the study. Whether they had had an abortion or not during the interval covered by the study did not seem to affect their mental health. Neither did their income level, job status, educational attainment, marital status, etc. In other words, they were unable to detect the existence of PAS.
	In 1989, a panel of the American Psychological Association unanimously concluded that legal abortion "does not create psychological hazards for most women undergoing the procedure." They found that about 21% of US adult women had had an abortion. 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 of patients was observed. The Associated Press reported that:

"... for a vast majority of those who have voluntary abortions, 'severe negative reactions are infrequent in the immediate and short-term aftermath,' the study said. The greatest distress, it found, 'is likely to be before the abortion.' 'Severe negative reactions after abortions are rare and can best be understood in the framework of coping with a normal life stress,' the study said." ₄

The American Psychological Association further analyzed the data from the 1979-1987 study and issued a press release on 1997-JAN-31. 5 They concluded: "Data from [a] long-term study demonstrate that even highly religious women are not at significantly greater risk of psychological distress because they had an abortion." This time they included an analysis of the woman's religious beliefs and practices - specifically: whether they were affiliated with a religious group, or were not religious. if religious, whether they attended church often or rarely. They found that: "...having had an abortion (or more than one) had no relation with self-esteem" the "...type of religion to which women who had an abortion belonged also did not make a difference in their post-abortion well-being..." Thus, even religious women did not appear to suffer from PAS at a detectable level. They further analyzed the data for the Roman Catholic women in the study. They found that "highly religious Catholic women were slightly more likely to exhibit postabortion psychological distress than other women..." But this is probably explained by the presence of a lower level of well-being at the start of the study by the devout Catholics, rather than any after-effect of the abortion.

A review of an article in the Journal of Social Issues states that PAS:

"... results in partial to total cognitive restructuring and behavioral reorganization. Secondary symptoms of PAS include depression, substance abuse, sleep disorders and suicidal thoughts."

The authors of the article concluded that: "at present, it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the incidence of Post Abortion Syndrome." They urge that more research be done.₆

	We have personally noticed TV ads in various parts of North America by pro-life groups and crisis pregnancy centers which offer "Post-traumatic Abortion Syndrome Counseling" or "Post Abortion Counseling". It is not clear whether they are offering a genuine, needed service, or are attempting to create a false belief among the public that such a syndrome is common.
	Planned Parenthood has an information sheet on PAS. 7 They quote a representative of the American Psychological Association 8 who testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He stated that PAS is rare and is less common than emotional upset after a birth.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. David Reardon, "Aborted Women: Silent No More," Crossway Books, Westchester IL, (1987)
2. Charlotte Parsons, "Guilt over abortion is rare...," The Globe and Mail, 1995-SEP-14
3. Dr. Paul Sachdev, "Sex, Abortion and Unmarried Women" Unknown publisher, 1995
4. "Study Finds Little Lasting Distress From Abortion," Associated Press, 1990-APR-06, at: http://query.nytimes.com/
5. "The American Psychological Association on post-abortion syndrome," APA press release reprinted at: http://www.catholic.net/
6. Anne Speckhard and Vincent Rue, "Post-Abortion Syndrome a Growing Health Problem," Journal of Social Issues, 1992-FALL. Available at: http://www.forerunner.com/
7. Planned Parenthood has an information sheet on "Post-traumatic Abortion Syndrome." See: http://www.igc.apc.org/  
8. N. Adler, statement on behalf of the American Psychological Association before the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-MAR-16, Pages 130-140.

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Latest update: 2009-JAN-12
Author: B.A. Robinson

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