Considerations medico-psychologiques sur l'interruption legale de la grossesse. (Medical and psychological considerations about legal termination of pregnancy).
This review examines 3 topics from the authors' experience in Switzerland: the psychology of a woman requesting legal abortion, handling the conflicts involved, and short and long term sequelae of legal abortion. Abortion always seems to present a conflict or a transitory psychic imbalance, even in well-balanced women. The conflict may not appear before the pregnancy is visible and subject to social consequences. Women requesting abortion do not differ from the overall population, but repeaters may be unstable, unrealistic with risks, masochistic, or acting aggressively toward the fetus. The authors believe that a physician should mediate between the roles of technician and of psycho-socio-medico-legal expert. Practically, 2 appointments with a few days between for the woman to contemplate her decision are helpful. Immediate psychologic consequences of legal abortion are usually nonexistent, except for relief or euphoria. 3-6 months later some women experience depression: studies report from 1% in Sweden to 50% in German-speaking Swiss. Many reports mention moderate regret or remorse, but very few mention serious psychiatric reactions. The regret sometimes seen 20-30 years later may be related to how the culture and the physician viewed the original abortion request.