Posted on 06/12/2002 8:34:51 AM PDT by LarryLied
A woman is suing the NHS over the psychological trauma she claims to have suffered after having an abortion.
She had the operation four years ago but, after giving birth to a son two-and-a-half years later, began to experience feelings of guilt and self-hatred and was on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
The unnamed woman, who is in her mid-twenties and works for the NHS, said medical staff should have warned her about the adverse effects of having an abortion.
"It was just very frightening. It just felt what I was doing was wrong," she has told the BBC.
"I felt as soon it was done, I knew, 'What a mistake'.
"I was denying it for years, for about three years I was trying to put it to the back of my mind as much as possible."
She succeeded quite well in putting it at the back of her mind for a few years, but could not do it forever, she said, adding: "The feelings all flooded back again three years later, after I'd had my son."
She felt she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown so contacted her GP for help, four years after the operation.
Before the abortion, she was seen by the GP and the surgeon and talked through possible physical side effects, but "there was no warning of any psychological effects", she said.
Dr Gillian Penny, chairman of the guidelines development group of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women did not usually suffer psychological problems unless they were already disturbed before the abortion.
Exactly!!
That would be interesting to know in this particular case. I'm not sure that the answer to this question matters in the instances of future abortions.
The providers, most likely, will have to screen for instability.
I wonder if this will have any repercussions in the US? The pro-aborts are always telling us the decision to abort is a stressful one, not an easy one, for most women. I wonder just how stressful they are willing to admit the decision is?
It's an Oregon Right to Life production, and she's the girl who's decided to write the columns on the site tell her story etc..
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