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Mind and Body

Physical and Emotional Changes You Can Expect With An Abortion

Abortion causes physical and emotional effects that can intensify an already stressful situation. If you are considering abortion, a counselor can help you understand how your body might react to the procedure, including how hormones as well as the stress of coping with an unplanned pregnancy and its termination can affect your emotion. This article examines some of the more common changes; your experience will be unique to you, depending on your health and how comfortable you are with your decision.

Body Changes
Most women experience menstrual like cramping for a few hours or even a few days after undergoing abortion. Bleeding can range from brownish spotting to a period like flow that can last up to a month. Most physicians and clinics require abortion patients to remain for at least one hour after the procedure so they can monitor blood pressure and other signs of possible trouble.

Your counselor will discuss symptoms that require medical attention, such as unusual discharge and excessive pain or bleeding. The doctor or clinic will provide written recovery care instructions, including when to call for additional care, and likely prescribe antibiotics to prevent possible infections.

Patients need to take it easy for a day or so. Recovery is usually swift, and most women quickly resume their regular routines. The physical symptoms of pregnancy-nausea, fatigue, bloating and appetite changes-subside within a week or so after the abortion. Breasts can remain tender and enlarged, however, for a few weeks.

Emotional upheaval
For most women who chose abortion, the emotional changes are more intense than the physical ones. Discovering you are pregnant when you’re not ready, then undergoing the stressful process of deciding how to handle it is probably the most difficult experience of your life so far. Women report such mixed feelings as shame, foolishness, anger, fear, and panic upon learning they are pregnant, and these emotions carry over as they decide how to handle it. A diary or journal can help you sort through your thoughts and reasoning as you make this difficult decision.

The emotions after an abortion often are another intense mix of shame, relief, loss, hopefulness and sadness. Post-abortion counseling can help women maneuver through the flood of feelings and help them realize hormones play a significant role in the emotional roller coaster. Most women experience a grieving period. Some women report recovering in a fairly short time, while a number of women report prolonged grief or feelings of shame, guilt and depression.

Supportive family, friends, or a counselor is crucial to help a woman sort through her post-abortion experience. Books can also help. Some titles to consider: A Solitary Sorrow: Finding Healing & Wholeness After Abortion by Teri Reisser; The Healing Choice: Your Guide to Emotional Recovery After an Abortion by Candace De Puy, PhD, and Dana Dovitch; and Do Not Lose Hope: Healing the Wounded Heart of Women Who Have Had Abortions by Rev. William F. Maestri.

Even years later it’s not unusual for women to experience a tinge of sadness or loss when they recall an abortion. Seek out the emotional support you need, either from an experienced abortion counselor, family member, or friend, and trust that you will make the right decision for you.

Something to think about; Research indicates that hormones released during pregnancy and breast feeding show a positive effect on reducing breast cancer risk. A few researchers have voiced concern that because abortion alters the natural hormones changes during pregnancy it might increase the risk for breast cancer.