Grief and Elective Abortion: Breaking the Emotional Bond?

Abstract

Does grief occur subsequent to elective abortion? This basic question is addressed using maternal-infant bonding as a basic theoretical framework. The temporal sequence of the three medical procedures: vacuum aspiration; dilitation and evacuation; and intrauterine induction, facilitated the testing of basic hypotheses deduced from bonding theory, as well as exploration of the grief reaction to the voluntary termination of a pregnancy. Grief associated with elective abortion was found to be symptomatically similar to grief experienced following involuntary fetal/infant loss, and may be initiated by the decision to terminate the pregnancy.