Abortion: Is it the end or just the beginning of the tunnel?

Around 58 abortions in the UK were performed on Maltese women according to statistics for 2015. Being illegal in Malta, the rate of abortion tourism from the country has increased. There are also Maltese women who travel to Italy for this purpose. In order to take a closer look at the procedure’s psychological effects, I contacted psychotherapist Charlie Azzopardi.

First, one needs to ask: ‘What are the pre-abortion influences which induce a woman to opt for this procedure?’ Dr Azzopardi highlighted helplessness and confusion. Women who opt for abortion are usually in an unstable relationship, are pregnant from someone they dislike, victims of rape, or are influenced by close relatives.

The frequently asked question, however, concerns the psychological effects on women. Dr Azzopardi classified these under ‘immediate’ and ‘long-term effects’, depending on the situation and how this presents itself. He recalled a case of a couple forced to abort their baby by the woman’s mother-in-law due to their unmarried status and young age. Pain and guilt emerged due to their lost child. They would have kept the baby if it weren’t for family interference. They weren’t ready to disclose this information to anyone because of shame and loyalty to the parents. This quickly shifted to anger as the woman started being intolerant towards her mother-in-law.

Dr Azzopardi explained how anger is often expressed towards the husband by blaming him for this procedure and could also resurface in future pregnancies. Sydna Masse, founder of the Ramah International, an abortion recovery programme in Fayetteville Arkansas, spoke about her anger issues after her abortion, being angry at her mother for not being “emotionally supportive” to keep the baby and also at her boyfriend for encouraging the termination. Anger was her way of moving on with life and her sword for self-defence.

Another psychological effect concerns relationships. As Dr Azzopardi observes: “What happens between people during times of trouble depends on the quality of their relationship before the trouble begins.” Most women hide their abortion surgery because of shame, guilt or fear of being judged but disclosure often results in conflict. The “marital relationship of the couple may be affected too. It is common for depression to ensue and... for couples to avoid talking about the abortion after a while,“he said.

Does abortion affect men? It “depends on the sense of manhood and fatherhood one has” and “on the age and the status of men.” From his clinical experience, Dr Azzopardi said men are equally negatively affected.

Can one ignore the psychological effects of practitioners who perform abortions? Dr Azzopardi opined “that those who practise this surgery see some good in what they do” resulting in “professional fulfilment.” However, Dr Bernard Nathanson, former director of the world’s largest abortion clinic in New York, explained that abortion “residents in obstetrical training programs prefer not to waste their valuable training time, carrying out a destructive procedure.” Rachel MacNair, director of the Institute for Integrated Social Analysis in Kansas City, said: “A doctor in New Mexico admitted that he was sometimes surprised by the anger a late-term abortion can arouse in him... the physician said, he is angry at the woman. ‘But paradoxically, I have angry feelings at myself for feeling good about grasping the calvaria (the top of the baby’s head), for feeling good about doing a technically good procedure which destroys a foetus, kills a baby.”

The psychological effects of the children conceived in rape are also significant. This depends on how the news is transmitted to the child, according to Dr Azzopardi. However, the majority don’t come to know about it because sometimes, “once the mother sees the baby or starts feeling the baby inside her, things often change dramatically.” Rebecca Kiessling, a pro-life speaker, explains how her life changed drastically after finding out of her conception in rape: “I felt like I was now going to have to justify my own existence... to prove myself to the world...that I was worthy of living. I remember people who would say that my life was like garbage. That I was disposable.”

After Malta’s recently promulgated law, making the morning after pill legally accessible to people without a prescription, arguments arose about these pills being abortive and some consider this as the first step before legalising abortion. I asked Dr Azzopardi if the same arguments relating to psychological effects are applicable in this situation. “To a great extent, regulation does not reflect practice.” He said that the authorities, including legislators and the church, “seem to feel safe and secure knowing that abortion is illegal without looking into the real implications of illegality, which are possibly more damaging than legality” as sometimes “illegality poses more dangers and risks to the woman.” This leads to a contradictory situation where people talk about the drawbacks of abortion while its practice increases. “Because abortion is illegal, it doesn’t mean people don’t do it” because “some still practise the illegal somewhere else. This is the religious-political hypocrisy we live in this island.” He opined that “abortion, like other things which are portrayed as wrong, is a matter of education and opening doors for people to discuss and argue. The more educated people there are the more able they are to make moral choices, including that of keeping a baby.”

Rebecca Kiessling: “I felt like I was now going to have to justify my own existence... to prove myself to the world...that I was worthy of living. I remember people who would say that my life was like garbage. That I was disposable.”