The impact an abortion can have on a woman’s overall life

What I learned from my personal experience and what I see with the women I work with is that in order to survive the dialectical thoughts of “I’m so relieved and I’m so sad,” a woman has to go into a shut down mode emotionally. Imagine dealing with thoughts like “what made me so relieved also made me sadder than I’ve ever been and what made me sadder than I’ve ever been actually gave me relief.” This thought pattern has no positive return for the person stuck in it.

It is necessary to put these two thoughts and emotions “somewhere.” We build a box in our minds, hearts and souls and vow to never talk or feel about the abortion again. The box eventually becomes a fortress we don’t even dare try to scale ourselves, much less let any other human being touch. Occasionally, there is a chance we will let some of the sadness ooze out. Maybe the anniversary of the procedure or driving by a school yard where children are playing give us leave to experience a small amount of grief. Yet some women consider their choice a “done deal” and they do not dare navigate the thoughts or the emotions of it again.

The majority of the women I’ve worked with have never told a single person about their abortion. This oftentimes even includes the father of the baby, which can sometimes actually be the husband. It has been my experience in my private practice that it takes at least nine hours of therapy before a woman will admit a past abortion. The average time frame I see for women finally being able to process the emotions and grief around their choice is at least fifteen years after the fact. Until the shell of denial breaks around the “abortion box” women of choice live in a strange sisterhood of silence.

Because most in our culture confuse the legalities of abortion with the actual process of resolving the natural loss that follows, there is an implied message that the abortion is the closure. This simply is not true. Women need a safe place to grieve an abortion loss separate from a political or religious discussion.

The impact of not grieving the loss incurred

Abortion choices create a situation of disenfranchised grief in women’s lives. Disenfranchised grief is grief experienced by an individual that is not openly acknowledged, socially validated or publically observed. The loss experienced is real, but survivors are not accorded the “right to grieve” by anyone around them.

A common effect of disenfranchised grief is depression, manifesting itself in small periods of sadness or more full-blown stints of depression. These periods may be accompanied by crying spells and low times of “blue” days.

Unprocessed grief can also cause people to “stay stuck” in anger without even realizing the source of their anger. Not connecting the depression with the unprocessed grief surrounding an abortion choice is typical.

Other ways to avoid “the abortion box” stashed in the corner of one’s mind are medicating the pain with drugs or alcohol, becoming dependent on people and even eating disordered behaviors. It is a known fact that limiting food becomes a way to process grief.

Understanding Abortion Grief and the Recovery Process