Bioethicist Dr Anthony McCarthy has published a paper on abortion regret in the journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

Dr McCarthy’s paper, followed up by a Journal of Medical Ethics blog post, looks at a claim made by legal researcher Dr Kate Greasley to the effect that even if more women regret their abortions than regret having a baby, this is not relevant to whether abortion is a moral or rational choice to make.

Greasley says that women who continue their pregnancies are unlikely to say that they regret having their child. Their bond with the child would make it wrong of them to regret this, which does not mean they necessarily made the right decision at the time. Similarly, a woman’s regret for abortion does not mean she made the wrong decision at the time – even if she would not have regretted having the child, states Greasley.

Dr McCarthy’s response

In response, Dr McCarthy argues that we need to separate regretting a choice from regretting all of its effects. For example, a woman who has had an abortion can also owe to that choice the life of a subsequent child who would not otherwise have been conceived. Nonetheless, it is possible for her to regret her abortion while loving and welcoming her new child. 

Abortion regret, writes Dr McCarthy, “is not a mere feeling but relates to a value or values”, in that the woman is likely to regret “‘what she missed out on’ or ‘what her fetus missed out on’”.  Women who regret their abortions should not be disregarded, either because they may be in the minority or because those who have their babies are unlikely to regret doing so.

For those who have their babies, “there is one very possible and painful regret – moral regret for ending a life – that they have at any rate been spared”.

We must take abortion regret seriously

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “We welcome Dr McCarthy’s important contribution to the literature on abortion regret, which puts paid to one argument dismissing the significance of the grief that many women suffer after an abortion.

“Abortion regret does have moral significance, even if different studies give different figures for how commonly it occurs (bearing in mind that some who regret their abortions will be reluctant to respond to questionnaires).  

“It harms women’s interests to dismiss abortion regret or to see it as irrelevant to other women considering an abortion.”