Akshaya Ganesan

Abstract:

In the United States, abortion remains a complex multifaceted issue intersecting multiple ethical, political, religious, gender, and healthcare debates. The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) established the constitutional right to abortion, but subsequent court decisions and state laws have recently placed restrictions on that right. With the increasing abortion hostility and healthcare restrictions, the number of induced abortions has still been increasing in the past ten years. Therefore, the legal abortion restrictions that are being instituted are not changing the number of abortions taking place but instead, creating a social stigma based on political, ethical, religious, and social norms that is jeopardizing women’s mental health and lives as they are forced to obtain unsafe abortions through secrecy, denial, and discrimination. In order to ultimately combat the increased emotional trauma in women, abortion must be normalized through public forums, public education, and safe spaces where women, experts, and advocates can address the issue openly, reduce misinformation and myths, and re-frame abortion breaking the social stigma. This presentation will draw from different expert psychological studies of women to explore the relationship between abortion stigma & women’s mental health and how to coordinate care for mentally suffering women in society.