My Mental Health take on Abortions

Hey everyone, I know it has been a while since I last wrote a blog, but I’ve been busy. Managing IMHCA, working my private practice, working my other job, and managing other aspects of my life has left me pretty busy. Though, taking a few moments to write this blog is important. Due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a lot of women are afraid. Thanks to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it’s left up to the individual states to decide the fate of women’s reproductive rights. Though, I’m not here to get political or talk about politics. I’m here to give the mental health perspective.

Over the years I have done counseling and consultation for women who are on the fence of wanting to get an abortion or not. I have also done counseling for women who have gotten abortions and, both, feel guilty and not felt guilty about it. I have also done counseling for women who were forced to keep the baby whether due to religious reasons, familial expectations, societal expectations or what have you. I also counseled women that wanted to keep the baby, despite other people saying not to. One general aspect or topic always comes up, the dehumanization they experience from everyone else. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, what your religious beliefs are or what your morals and values are, women do not deserve to be dehumanized.

For those that do not know what dehumanization it is defined as the following in the APA Dictionary of Psychology, “Any process or practice that is thought to reduce human beings to the level of mechanisms or nonhuman animals, especially by denying them autonomy, individuality, and a sense of dignity.” By doing this to women, a lot of mental health issues can surface as the result of the dehumanization. Of course, depression and anxiety will come out of that, but other things like frustration, grief, being co-dependent, not taking care of oneself, following a negative self-fulfilling prophecy, suicidal ideation, suiciding and more.

Without making this blog too long, we need to support women, help them build autonomy, help them maintain their sense of dignity and treating them like humans. How do we do this? We need to, first and foremost, respect the decision that they make no matter what. Ultimately women know themselves better than we will ever know. Ultimately the individual woman knows themselves better than anyone else would ever know them. So, at the end of the day, let’s respect women’s choices because they know themselves better than we will ever know them.