New research utilizing a national random survey of American women aged 41 to 45 years found that prolonged grief disorder is common after both induced abortions and natural losses.
The research investigated the degrees of grief and complicated grief attributed to natural and induced pregnancy losses, based on 1,925 surveys collected from a topic-blind panel. Of these, 409 respondents (21.2%) reported a history of induced abortion and 573 (29.8%) had a history of miscarriage or other natural losses. These rates are close to national averages, indicating a representative sample.
Women who had abortions were grouped by their abortion decision-types: Wanted ("wanted and consistent with my values and preferences"; Inconsistent ("accepted but inconsistent with my values and preferences"); Unwanted ("unwanted and contrary to my values and preferences"); Coerced ("Coerced and contrary to my values and preferences").
The most common abortion decision type was Inconsistent (35.5%), followed by Wanted (29.8%), Unwanted (22.0%) and Coerced (12.7%).