ABORTIONS ARE A WOMAN’S PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE AND IMPACT ON THE NEXT PREGNANCY

Abstract

The article examines the impact of abortion on a woman’s mental state and subsequent pregnancy. The wide distribution of abortions, the attitude towards abortion in culture, the problems of psychological adaptation of women who have decided to have an abortion, as well as the consequences of a violation of the psychological state of women after an abortion – all this determines the need for an in-depth psychological examination of the motives and experiences that accompany abortion. It has been proven that at the beginning after the termination of pregnancy, psychological protective mechanisms are activated in women, which temporarily alleviate their trauma. However, when the defense system fails, women begin to suffer. Insomnia, terrible dreams, lack of appetite, disruption of the biological rhythm, crying for no reason, sudden changes in mood – all this is characteristic of women after an abortion. Often, psychosomatic disorders begin at the same time as migraine, pain in the lower abdomen, etc. There can also be mental disorders, which are manifested in withdrawal from people, excessive use of drugs and alcohol. Some women become distrustful, others paranoid to the development of psychosis. The debate over abortion and mental health has been determined to be driven by two different perspectives on how best to interpret accepted facts. In interpreting the data, abortion and mental health advocates tend to emphasize the risks associated with abortion, while abortion and mental health advocates emphasize existing risk factors as the main explanatory correlates of more negative outcomes. However, both sides agree that (a) abortion is consistently associated with increased rates of mental illness compared to women who have not had an abortion; (b) the abortion experience directly contributes to mental health problems for at least some women; (c) there are risk factors, such as pre-existing mental illness, that identify women at greatest risk for postabortion mental health problems; and (d) the inability to conduct research in this area such that it is possible to definitively determine the extent to which any post-abortion mental illness can be reliably attributed to the abortion itself.