[Induced abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy in the county of Arhus 1993-1994. Psychological consequences].

The records of all women applying for permission to have an abortion performed after the 12th week of pregnancy during a one-year period in the County of Aarhus were continuously reviewed, and the women who had the abortion performed due to psychosocial reasons were interviewed with a questionnaire at the time of the abortion and again four months later. Of the 76 women who applied for permission for a late abortion the following were excluded from the study: 31 who had the abortion because a malformed child was suspected, six women who did not have the abortion although permission had been given, five women who did not receive permission, four who were under 18 years of age, one who had a miscarriage, 10 who were from another country of origin and did not understand Danish and finally four women who were allowed an abortion on a medical indication and who were either in hospital or in jail. Fifteen women were questioned concerning their age, length of pregnancy and psychological and social histories and were asked to fill out a depression scale. The data showed that none of them had planned their pregnancy and they had had no symptoms of pregnancy until the time at which they applied for the abortion. None of them regretted the abortion afterwards; half of the women were under psychological strain at the time of application, and a few of them had even more psychological symptoms four months after the abortion. Although they had many social problems, physical complications and psychological problems only a few of the women had seen a doctor in the four month period between the abortion and the follow-up.