Following an abortion, grief is much more common, and more intensely felt, than relief, according to a new study of a random sample of American women.
These new findings starkly contradict the claim of Planned Parenthood that "Over 95% of people who have had abortions say that they mostly felt relief after their abortion."
Compared to women who had miscarriages or other natural pregnancy losses, women who had abortions had similar levels of grief, depression, and anxiety. But the latter reported much higher levels of guilt, shame, and regret.
On average, relief was prominent only among the 30% of women who described their abortions as "wanted and consistent with my values and preferences." For all others, relief was rarely reported.
In sharp contrast to the subgroup whose abortions were freely chosen, 70% reported feeling pressured to abort by other people or circumstances. These pressures were strongly linked to women reporting that their abortions were inconsistent or contrary to their own values and preferences.
Nearly 13% of the women described their abortions as "coerced." This subgroup consistently rated their negative emotions as more severe than all the other groups, including those who had natural pregnancy losses. Women in the coerced group were also the most likely to report that they continue to have intense negative feelings, even twenty years after their abortions.
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