Nada Stotland Admits Psychological Impact of Abortion

In 1992, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a commentary by psychiatrist Nada Stotland entitled “The Myth of Abortion Trauma Syndrome.” In her commentary Stotland emphatically insisted that post-abortion trauma “does not exist.” While her arguments for this absolutist position were strained and inconsistent with the studies she cited, her opinion was widely echoed. (See “JAMA Gymnastics” The Post-Abortion Review1(2):3-4, 1993)

But now in a more recent article (“Abortion: Social Context, Psychodynamic Implications” Am J Psychiatry, 155(7):964-967, 1998) Stotland has softened her position. In it she describes a patient whose miscarriage precipitated an unexpected release of grief over a prior abortion that shook both the patient and Stotland.

Her experience with this patient inspired Stotland to write the article to call attention to “the psychological complexities of induced abortion.” She observes that no matter what a woman’s political perspective may be, “an abortion is experienced by that woman as both the mastery of a difficult life situation and as the loss of a potential life. There is the danger that the political, sociological context can overshadow a woman’s authentic, multilayered emotional experience.” The failure to address this loss, Stotland writes, “leaves the person vulnerable to reminders and reenactments, to difficulties that may surface in life and in subsequent psychotherapy.”

While Stotland clearly does not reject her pro-choice views, it is also clear that she has started to break through her own denial. Post-abortion trauma is not a myth.

Originally published in The Post-Abortion Review 7(1) Jan.-March 1999. Copyright 1999 Elliot Institute.