SUICIDE, PSYCHIATRISTS AND THERAPEUTIC ABORTION.

Pressures for interruption of pregnancy by therapeutic abortion constantly increase, both for liberalization of laws and for interpreting existing law more broadly. There are wide variations and inconsistencies in psychiatric attitudes and practices about therapeutic abortion. Follow-up patient data are scant, but necessary. Results of questionnaires indicate that such data can be obtained, and convey the impression that patients seem to manage after pregnancy, regardless of outcome, much as they had before pregnancy. This study indicates that the incidence of suicide in pregnant women is approximately one-sixth that of the rate for non-pregnant women in comparable age groups, implying that perhaps pregnancy has a psychically protective role.