Psychological coping in the immediate post-abortion period

Women undergoing abortion do psychologically well long-term. Little data, however, describe how women fare in the immediate 1-3 day post-abortion period, when interventions may be most impactful for those who need them.

We conducted a cohort study of patients undergoing first and second trimester surgical abortion and scored self-reported responses regarding psychological well-being before and after abortion, plus anticipated post-procedural psychological coping.

Sixty-two of 148 patients had complete questionnaires. Average predicted psychological scores were 9.7% better than pre-procedural psychological states. Actual psychological coping scores improved by 38% over women's predictions. Women who scored poorly on pre-procedural psychological assessments were more likely to have post-procedural psychosocial concerns (p=0.0376, r=0.2761).

While most women approach their abortion with optimism, they actually fare even better psychologically than they predict they will during the 1-3 days following procedures. Poor scores on pre-procedural psychological assessments can identify women in need of additional support in the immediate post-abortion period.