Evaluation of Therapeutic Abortion as an Element of Preventive Psychiatry
H. G. WHITTINGTON M.D.1
1 Director of psychiatry, Department of Health and Hospitals, West Sixth Ave. and Cherokee St., Denver, Colo. 80204
The majority of 31 women who were surveyed after having therapeutic abortions reported that they felt content and mentally healthy. But since no studies predict which women with unwanted pregnancies might become mentally ill if abortion is denied, the author feels that psychiatry should not be legally responsible for deciding whether or not abortions should be granted. Therapeutic abortion should be covered by medical practice acts and the decision left to the woman and her physician, he believes.
