Sir, - Contrary to Rosemarie Rowley's comment in her letter of January 28th, there are a number of research studies on reactions to abortion which have been carried out in countries where abortion is legally available. This research has been summarised in academic journals such as the American Journal of Psychiatry, the American Psychologist and the British Journal of Psychiatry. Perhaps Rosemarie Rowlie's comments were influenced by the fact that at least one of her sources, an article in The Psychology of Women - Ongoing Debates, edited by Mary Roth Walsh (Yale University Press) was not a summary of research, but rather an opinion piece chosen by the editor to represent one side of a debate on abortion.
According to the summaries mentioned, a consistent research finding is that the majority of women who have had abortions have a mixture of emotional responses, with positive responses such as relief outweighing negative responses such as guilt, both in intensity and in duration.
Around 10 per cent of women who have abortions suffer serious negative consequences. These women are more likely to have been in difficult circumstances before pregnancy, to have a history of emotional disturbance, and to feel that they had little choice in relation to the abortion.
These research findings are based on many studies of large samples of women from diverse backgrounds in terms of nationality, class, race and religion. Long term follow up studies are rare: they provide little evidence of long term negative effects of abortion for most women. Finally, there is evidence in some cases of psychological difficulties in children of unwanted pregnancies. Thus the risks of negative effects following abortion must be weighted against the risks of negative consequences for both mother and child, following an unwanted pregnancy.
A detailed summary of scientific research relating to psychological and social aspects of abortion is available from the Psychological Society of Ireland, 13 Adelaide Road, Dublin 2. - Yours, etc.,
Department of Psychology,
University College Dublin.