Post-abortion Syndrome
The term "post-abortion syndrome" was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue, a pro-life advocate, in testimony before Congress in which he stated that he had observed post-traumatic stress disorder which developed in response to the stress of abortion. Rue proposed the name "post-abortion syndrome" (PAS) to describe this phenomenon.
The term post-abortion syndrome (PAS) has subsequently been popularized and widely used by pro-life advocates to describe a broad range of adverse emotional reactions which they attribute to abortion. "Post-abortion syndrome" has not found widespread acceptance outside the pro-life community; the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association do not recognize PAS as an actual diagnosis or condition, and it is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR or in the ICD-10 list of psychiatric conditions. Some physicians and pro-choice advocates have argued that the focus on "post-abortion syndrome" is a tactic used by pro-life advocates for political purposes.
Read more about this topic: Abortion And Mental Health
Famous quotes containing the word syndrome:
“Women are taught that their main goal in life is to serve others—first men, and later, children. This prescription leads to enormous problems, for it is supposed to be carried out as if women did not have needs of their own, as if one could serve others without simultaneously attending to one’s own interests and desires. Carried to its “perfection,” it produces the martyr syndrome or the smothering wife and mother.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)