The Physical and Psychological Impacts of Abortion on Women

According to World Health Organization (2021), annually, around 73 million abortions take place in the world. For centuries, women have been fighting for their right to take full control of their bodies and decide whether they want to become mothers. The factors making women have abortions differ dramatically. Some of them take such a step for medical reasons, some – for economic ones, while some women realize they are not psychologically ready to become mothers. Whatever pushes a woman to have an abortion, it is always a stressful and difficult decision. More than that, though nowadays it is considered a common health intervention and is on the list of essential health care services in many countries, abortion is still a subject of numerous disputes both in the public and the medical community. Pregnancy is a complex phenomenon that triggers many processes in the woman’s body, and, by having it terminated, a female organism needs time to recover. Besides, abortion is associated with many economic, legal, and medical problems. While some people focus on its moral aspect and discuss the rights of women to have control over their bodies and the right of a fetus to live, scholars mostly focus on the impact of abortion women, namely her mental and physical health. The problem is that, while deciding to have an abortion, many women are unaware of the risks they are likely to face both before and after the procedure and the problems to which the latter may lead them in the future. There are several types of abortions available to women, but all of them may have a range of negative impacts on women’s mental and physical well-being they may face both while preparing for the procedure and after it. Within the current debate about the legality of abortions and the reproductive rights of women in the United States, restricting abortions and increasing women’s awareness of the adverse effect of this widespread medical procedure is essential because it may not only lower the number of abortions but also help women to prepare for the procedure and, in such a way, mitigate the negative impact mentioned above.