Emotional distress in Israeli women before and after abortion.

Emotional distress in a group of Israeli women who requested legal abortion was compared with that in a group of women on the verge of delivery and in a random group of nonpregnant women on measures of anxiety and depression. Emotional consequences of the abortion were evaluated by before-and-after comparisons of the same measures in a subgroup of the aborting women. Findings indicated significantly greater distress in the aborting women, with lower levels after the abortion. The effects on emotional well-being of personal and contextual factors and their interactions were also examined.