Psychological complications of abortion

Not all women who have had an abortion will suffer from symptoms - and those who do may not suffer all of them nor to the same degree. The physical and psychological complications which may occur cannot be predicted in any one person – they can happen to anyone – and there is not way of judging beforehand who will be burdened.

In practically every case documented by post-abortion counsellors, the woman was not given all the facts. Many times, abortion is explained as a clinically safe surgical procedure. But this so-called ‘safe procedure’ can leave you with permanent physical complications as well as potentially chronic psychological problems.

Here some extracts of hurting people talking

"I liked myself prior to the abortion, but shame and guilt set in. The doctor called my baby a ‘foetus’ and others referred to her as ‘stuff’ or ‘tissue adhering to the uterus’. No-one mentioned the word ‘baby’ or told me that her heart had started beating at 18 days."

"I used to get on really well with my girlfriend before the abortion. Now I don’t understand her. She cries all the time. She is just not the same happy person that I first knew. I find it hard to relate to her and our sexual relationship has deteriorated. She no longer seems interested."

"My husband said he would divorce me if I didn’t abort our third baby. I had the abortion and one year later I’m divorced anyway and can’t live with the mental torment of knowing that I allowed my baby to be destroyed for nothing."

"Just going through the surgery made me feel totally helpless. I wanted to shout ‘stop’, but I just couldn’t. I felt as though I had no choice but to go on. Afterwards I felt violated and degraded. Now the noise of my vacuum cleaner constantly reminds me of the vacuum aspirator used to take my baby away that day. I wish I could shut off my memories."

"I really hated myself afterwards. It was just that what I did was so unnatural. I had feelings for the baby and just totally rejected all my feelings for it. Everyone did. I mean I may have only been 17 and in Year 12 but I was still a pregnant woman and I and everyone else just ignored that fact. Just because you’re only 17 doesn’t mean you feel less for a baby. You feel even more in a way, because it’s something of yours to love completely, and being a single mother I would have had to rely totally on my own strength, and now I feel like I gave up on it."

Quotes from Seminar on "Post Abortion Sequelae" 6 June 1990.

Reproduced with permission from Women Hurt by Abortion 1999.