Informed Consent Civil Actions for Post-Abortion Psychological Trauma
![handle is hein.journals/tndl71 and id is 647 raw text is: Informed Consent Civil Actions for Post-Abortion
Psychological Trauma
Thomas R. Eller*
The purpose of this Article is to explore under what circumstances a
woman who has sustained psychological damage from an abortion may
maintain a cause of action against the abortion provider for failing to have
properly informed her before the procedure of the risk of adverse psycho-
logical consequences which could be caused or aggravated by the abortion.
These consequences can be serious and destructive. Every year in the
United States approximately one and one-half million legal abortions are
performed.' According to some authorities, ten to fifteen percent of wo-
men who have had an abortion are subject to long-term depression or emo-
tional distress caused by the procedure;2 other studies have found that
fewer than ten percent of women who have had a legal abortion during
their first trimester develop long-term psychiatric or emotional reactions.3
In addition to depression, reactions after abortion include repression,4 a
sense of loss,5 guilt,6 sleeping disorders,7 anniversary reactions,8 disturbed
* Partner, Eller, Brink & Sextro, Denison, Iowa, A.B. Carleton College 1964,J.D. University
of Iowa College of Law 1967.
1 Paul K.B. Dagg, The Psychological Sequelae of Therapeutic Abortion-Denied and Completed, 148
AM.J. PsYcHATRY 578 (1991);Jo Ann Rosenfeld, Emotional Responses to Therapeutic Abortion, 45 Am.
FAm. PHYSICIAN 137 (1992).
2 HARoLD I. KAPLAN& & BENJAMINJ. SADocK, COMPREHENSIVE TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY 1701
(6th ed. 1995). Dagg, supra note 1, at 579-83, contains a summary of studies on depression. He
emphasizes that the great majority of women appear not to suffer long-term depression or ad-
verse psychological impact from abortion. Short-term depression or stress, however, appears to
be common. See also Nancy E. Adler et al., Psychological Responses After Abortion, 248 Sci. 41 (1990),
which concludes from a study of medical literature that abortion most often does not lead to later
psychological problems.
3 Rosenfeld, supra note 1, at 137.
4 Dagg, supra note 1, at 582; Linda L. Layne, Motherhood Lost: Cultural Dimensions of Miscar-
riage and Still Birth in America, 16 WOMEN & HEALTH 69 (1990), noting that in American culture,
pregnancy loss is a subject not easily discussed.
5 Rosenfeld, supra note 1, at 138.
6 Id. at 139. Rosenfeld concludes that regret and guilt occur in women who have poor
ability to adapt to normal stress. Id.; see also sources cited infra notes 16-19.
7 Nancy B. Campbell et al., Abortion inAdolescencA 23 AnOLmCENcE 813 (1988), report signif-
icant nightmare and other problems in group members who had aborted during adolescence.
Campbell et al.'s discussion of possible causes did not center on the act of abortion, but on
adolescent development and relationships.
8 Nadja Bums Gould, Post Abortion Depressive Reactions in College Women, 28J. A. C. H.ALTH
Ass'N 316 (1980); Jesse 0. CavenarJr. et al., Aftermath of Abortion: Anniversary Depression and Ab-
dominal Pain, 42 Buu MENNINGER CLINIC 433, 437 (1978), observing in two patients that the
abortion was one of many factors leading to neurotic depression; Jean G. Spaulding &Jesse 0.
Cavenar, Psychoses Following Therapeutic Abortion, 135 Am.J. PSYCHIATRY 364 (1978). Spaulding and
Cavenar report two serious anniversary cases in detail. In one case the patient required hospitali-
zation for severe symptoms which occurred at the time [she] would have had [her] baby. Id. at
365. The patient then experienced insomnia, anorexia, agitation, and severe depression. Id.;
see also Kathleen Franco et al., Anniversary Reactions and Due Date Responses Following Abortion, 52
PSYCHOTHERAPY & PSYCHOSOMICS 151 (1989), finding increased dependency and sleeping disor-
ders in women who, responding to a survey, reported anniversary reactions.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/tndl71&div=37&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Informed Consent Civil Actions for Post-Abortion Psychological Trauma
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