[Post-abortion counseling].

Abstract

Faced with the silence that follows an abortion, we have established an individual, post-abortion counseling program based on psychological interviews with women who have recently had an abortion. These interviews begin in the second week following the abortion when the woman returns to the hospital for a post-abortion medical examination. The point of these interviews is to listen to what has been experienced--notably a certain ambivalence that arises from the act of having the abortion, which is constructed as having been a decision freely taken. The aim of these sessions is to help the woman through the process of mourning. Whether due to the failure of a contraceptive or a failed relationship, the resulting sorrow is produced by an underlying wish to have children. The periodic interviews have, over the weeks, helped to restore a certain psychological balance.