A Good Abortion Is a Tragic Abortion: Fit Motherhood and Disability Stigma

In the context of abortion stigma, most abortion stories remain untold. The stories we do tell of abortion are often told to morally recuperate the status of the woman who has an abortion through a recourse to tragedy. Tragedy frames experiences where every choice produces some suffering, so decisions are geared toward maintaining individual integrity rather than adherence to absolute moral truths. This article argues that one dominant tragic abortion narrative, that of the disabled fetus, works to recuperate the moral status of “fit” mothers while actively constructing disabled lives as unlivable and undesirable. The option to stigmatize disability in recuperating the moral status of the woman who has an abortion relies on eugenic logics that also construct a variety of women (racialized, poor, disabled, and young) as illegitimate reproductive subjects. The article analyzes narratives of Sherri Finkbine's 1962 abortion in relation to contemporary narratives of late‐term abortions involving nonviable fetuses to expose how investment in medical judgments of good births enables particular women to make use of tragic narratives to maintain their status as moral mothers without disturbing broader abortion stigma or eugenic logics.     

Young women struggling for an identity

In this article, I propose that many young women in today's world are facing an intense internal struggle to find their identity, and that this struggle is an effect of what they experience as enormous pressure to achieve certain goals. My belief is that, in the contemporary atmosphere of postfeminism in which women seemingly have many more options, the young adult woman experiences these options as expectations. The effect of these demands is an enormous self-doubt where women feel worthless, unimportant, and often unable to go forward in their lives. This article focuses on the stories of 3 young women and their struggles: a 25-year-old White middle-class woman whose obsessive longing to find the "right" man leads to eating difficulties; a 23-year-old lesbian, also White, who is just graduating from college and believes that she is terminally depressed; and a 29-year-old Chinese American woman who has fought anxiety and chronic fatigue for most of her adult life. How they find their way clearly exemplifies both the struggle and the road to success--overcoming self-doubt and challenging the expectations that create the conditions for it.     

Family Pathology and the Creation of Madness: A Case Study of Mind Control

This article describes the evolution of madness in a vulnerable young woman through the progressive manipulation of her religiosity and other beliefs. Evidence acquired during the forensic psychological investigation of a murder led to an ultimately finding of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. This case offers insight into the impact of two seriously impaired families systems as well as the profound pathology in a young man who unwittingly induced profound mental illness in his very vulnerable step-sister and the mother of his baby. Therapeutic Intervention over several years and then follow up over eight years showed no evidence of any ongoing or concurrent mental illness after her discharge from detention.     

Growing Up and Living with Neurofibromatosis1 (NF1): A British Bangladeshi Case-study

In this article, I analyse a narrative by Rohima(1), a Bangladeshi woman now living in the UK who was diagnosed in adulthood as having NF1 (neurofibromatosis). While some themes in her narrative account resemble those of persons with NF1 in the general European and American population, other themes relate specifically to Bangladeshi cultural issues and practices. These particularly concern gender, sexual identity and marriage. As a young woman, Rohima's dark skin coloration and the tumors or lumps associated with her condition led her parents and relatives to regard her as unmarriageable and in effect, despite her evident intelligence and competence, to deny that she was a woman. Bangladeshi men and women alike found her appearance a bar to any social acceptability. Even after her marriage (to a non-Bangladeshi man), her family have been unwilling to accept her and her children fully into their kinship network. The article explores the consequences of genetic disorders such as NF1 in cultures where social identity and concepts of personhood, particularly for women, are inextricably related to appearance and to judgements regarding marriageability.     

Life as a Pregnant Genetic Counselor

Pregnancy is a life-changing experience that many, if not most, women will experience during their lives. Though exciting, it can present challenges, both physical and psychological. Those challenges may be amplified when working in a prenatal setting. Here, one genetic counselor discusses her experiences, and the lessons she learned, as a new counselor trying to learn the ropes while simultaneously navigating the unfamiliar territory of her pregnancy.     

Fear of a black (and working-class) planet: young women and the racialization of reproductive politics

Racialized and class specific as well as gendered heterosexuality is compulsory for young women. Substantial academic literature addressed the incidence of premarital adolescent heterosexual intercourse paying particular attention to young working-class women and (especially in the US) to young women of color. During the 1980s, journals and academic texts in the US debated the so-called black underclass disregarding the effects of Reaganomics: increasing poverty, homelessness, ill health, and unemployment, which affected young African-American women. From a traditional (hetero)patriarchal standpoint, any teenage pregnancy is a problem. Hence pregnancy avoidance and planned parenthood focus on young working-class women and young women of color presumed to constitute the problem of the (hetero)sexually active teenager. The ideology of fetal rights as used in anti-abortion and pro-life arguments represents the life of a pregnant woman as in direct opposition to that of her fetus. The ideology of adolescence constructs all young people as inherently prone to irresponsibility, especially if they are female, working-class, and black. In the Third World, young women considered as irresponsible mothers more likely face enforced sterilization than access to abortion in the guise of genetic counseling for disabilities or without explicit consent during other gynecological operations. Feminists point out that under current legislation in England and Wales, fetuses defined as seriously handicapped can be aborted up to the moment of birth. The legacy of eugenicist ideas lives on in assumptions about the inherent deficiencies of young working-class women, young women of color, and young women with disabilities as potential mothers. Yet despite the institutional, cultural, and ideological force of appropriate heterosexual and reproductive activity, young women continue to challenge common sense definitions of normality and deviance.     

Unplanned pregnancies and abortion counselling. Some thoughts on unconscious motivations

In a climate where the numbers of abortions and repeat abortions are increasing, it is necessary to improve our understanding of the dynamics that motivate the behavior of abortion seekers. While genuine contraceptive failures do exist, many unwanted pregnancies result from unresolved conflicts carried over from the woman's early relationship with her mother. The management of any pregnancy is often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence, and abortion itself is an expression of ambivalence reflecting a previously unconscious wish for a baby and a conscious wish to end the pregnancy. How these issues are handled also reflects the position the woman occupies in her life cycle. Examination of the early mother-child relationship may shed light on what unconscious needs are being expressed through the "acting out" mechanism of repeat abortion. If the mother-child relationship failed to establish an internal representation of a caretaking function, the child will lack the capacity for self-care and may seek abortion as a deliberate mechanism of self harm. Until such conflicts are resolved, abortions may be repeated. The abortion experience may also reflect a desire for a woman to individuate from her mother. Abortion counseling offers women an opportunity to understand and work through the damage resulting from their relationship with their own mothers. One case study, of a 25-year-old undergoing her fifth abortion, provides an example of acting out psychic pain resulting from a damaging maternal relationship. This woman lacked the capacity for self-care and could only tolerate counseling sessions until she overcame the acute vulnerability imposed by her most recent abortion. Another case study, of a 27-year-old seeking counseling after experiencing overwhelming feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy, provides an example of a woman seeking individuation and unconditional love. This woman used counseling successfully to develop a better understanding of herself and a certainty that she could be loved despite her flaws. Such dynamics do not always inform the abortion experience, but abortion is always a distressing experience, and counseling should always be available. Abortion counselors must come to terms with their own ambivalent feelings and unconscious conflicts in order to serve their clients.     

A Multi-Case Report of the Pathways To and Through Genetic Testing and Cancer Risk Management for BRCA Mutation-Positive Women Aged 18–25

Much of the extant literature addressing the psychosocial aspects of BRCA1/2 mutation testing and risk management aggregates mutation carriers of all ages in study recruitment, data analysis, and interpretation. This analytic strategy does not adequately address the needs of the youngest genetic testing consumers, i.e., women aged 18–25. Despite low absolute cancer risk estimates before age 30, BRCA1/2 mutation-positive women aged 18–25 feel vulnerable to a cancer diagnosis but find themselves in a management quandary because the clinical utility of screening and prevention options are not yet well defined for such young carriers. We present three cases, selected from a larger study of 32 BRCA1/2 mutation-positive women who completed or considered genetic testing before age 25, to demonstrate the unique developmental, relational and temporal influences, as well as the challenges, experienced by very young BRCA mutation-positive women as they complete genetic testing and initiate cancer risk management. The first case describes the maturation of a young woman whose family participated in a national cancer registry. The second addresses the experiences and expectations of a young woman who completed genetic testing after learning that her unaffected father was a mutation carrier. The third case highlights the experiences of a young woman parentally bereaved in childhood, who presented for genetic counseling and testing due to intense family pressure. Together, these cases suggest that BRCA1/2-positive women aged 18–25 are challenged to reconcile their burgeoning independence from their families with risk-related support needs. Loved ones acting in ways meant to care for these young women may inadvertently apply pressure, convoluting family support dynamics and autonomous decision-making. Ongoing support from competent healthcare professionals will enable these young women to remain informed and receive objective counsel about their risk-management decisions.     

Attitudes Toward Fragile X Mutation Carrier Testing from Women Identified in a General Population Survey

Fragile X syndrome is primarily due to a CGG repeat expansion found in the FMR1 X-linked gene. In a previous study, we conducted focus groups with women to assess their attitudes towards fragile X carrier screening. In this follow-up study, we conducted in-depth interviews of general population reproductive-age women who were identified as carriers. We explored their attitudes toward testing for carrier status of the fragile X mutation. These women underwent screening primarily to participate in a research project rather than in search of a diagnosis for specific symptoms. As such, these women were wholly unprepared for positive carrier results. Their responses about their results and carrier screening, in many cases, were being worked out over the course of the interview itself. The most salient finding of this work is the apparent lack of relevance of carrier status to these women. Many expressed that although the information could be relevant in the future, it is not relevant at this stage of their lives in terms of family planning (either with respect to having unaffected offspring or to premature ovarian failure) and personal relationships. Although issues of abortion seemed prominent in the focus groups, we found that carrier status did not have an apparent effect on women’s attitudes about termination. We hypothesize this may be related to the fact that women had not processed their new carrier status and had not related it to previously-formed personal opinions. The findings of this work have significant implications for genetic counseling and population screening. Genetic counselors should be mindful that general population women may not recognize the immediate importance of their carrier status even when literature is provided and discussed prior to providing a sample. As part of comprehensive genetic counseling, counselors should identify the reproductive life stage of the woman receiving the new information and help her identify when this information would be more meaningful in her life. Counselors can assist in setting up a personalized road map with specific types of services that will be more applicable to the woman as her carrier status becomes more relevant.     

Discussion of “Taking the Sting Out: Manifesting Aggression and Containing Difficult States in a Relational Group Psychotherapy”

Ravit Raufman’s paper contributes to the bridging gap between relational approaches and group therapy. It is also important in its recognizing the (group) therapist’s aggression and suggesting how to use it in the service of the group development. In this review I focus on the dynamics of a group of women led by a woman to explain some of the phenomena that Raufman describes in her article, and I add some social unconscious ideas to enrich our understanding of that group.     

Accepting "total and complete responsibility": new age neo-feminist violence against women

Barry Konikov, a hypnotherapist, of Potentials Unlimited Inc., a Michigan-based company which produces approximately 160 Subliminal Persuasion/Self Hypnosis tapes, promises his listeners miracles. The tapes on premenstrual syndrome, abortion, and sexual abuse were analyzed. The self-hypnosis message by Konikov is dangerous for women, because his antifeminism, misogyny, and patriarchism are couched insidiously within New Age neofeminism. Under therapeutic guidance the woman listener can direct her own transformation to complete mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and her new and improved self is so empowered as to accept total and complete responsibility to overcome the hurt about menstruation, abortion, or sexual abuse. Growth therapies such as Gestalt, guided fantasies, and bioenergetics undermine women with false promises of power. If women are so powerful, then it is their fault if they got raped, or battered, or if they have not received love, money, and inner peace. While seemingly empowering women to develop a strong sense of personal agency, Konikov ignores the patriarchal structures which intersect his women listeners' experience of menstrual discomfort, abortion, and sexual abuse. Konikov's New Age, neofeminist stance contains 4 stages of healing: responsibility, absolution, forgiveness, and resolution. Accepting responsibility for the wound next leads to absolution, and particularly absolution for men. As an example of absolution, Konikov's woman client-ex-plantation slave accepted her past-life relationship to her husband, absolved him of guild, and decided upon a divorce. The issue of absolution widens into forgiveness in the healing process, whereby Konikov wants women to hypnotize themselves therapy should be to help a woman see how her own power as an individual is inextricably bound to the collective power of women as a group. There is no doubt that the New Age neofeminist stance taken by Konikov on the tapes leaves women profoundly disempowered.     

Sonya turned her skin outside in

In the case of a young woman, it was evident that she had difficulties in approaching her pregenital experiences during analysis and that she had defended herself against pregenital anxiety. While these defences were aimed at denying and repressing early oral and bodily fantasies end experiences, they had also influenced and inhibited her subsequent bodily and genital development. Psychosomatic symptoms had both absorbed and represented archaic feelings and fantasies which had not found a more precise mental expression. Consequently, her female inner space had been repressed and excluded by skinerotic defences.     

Sisters of the Heart Along the Way: The Power of the Female Mentoring Relationship

Women's mentoring relationships with other women can have powerful effects on professional development and enrich the lives of both mentor and protégée. Women psychology students and early career psychologists are tasked with integrating their personal and professional identities and overcoming gender-related barriers to professional growth and career success. Mentors provide assistance negotiating these and other challenges to the junior professional's development. The author shares her experience as a woman student and early career psychologist in the context of her relationship with her woman mentor. She discusses her reconciliation of stereotyped beliefs about being a woman and a professional psychologist; processes significantly influenced by powerful characteristics of her mentoring relationship such as supportive encouragement, modeling, transparency, and spiritual connectedness. The author then explores the link between the relational qualities in the mentoring relationship and an enhanced overall approach to clinical work with patients. Last, the benefits of women's intimate relationships are discussed, followed by references that explore benefits and challenges, and models and strategies for women mentoring women. The author concludes that as a sister of the heart relationship, the mentoring bond between women can be a healing and empowering attachment.     

The Wounded Counselor: Battle for the Soul at an Elite Private School

A Jungian analyst describes her experiences as a counselor in an independent school. Inspired to work in a nontherapeutic setting by James Hillman's call for “a depth psychology of extraversion,” she initially finds the school tolerant of human vulnerability and shadow and receptive to her efforts to engage with psyche on the individual and group levels. However, under new leadership the school goes through a radical change and certain forces ascendant in the larger collective—technology, globalization, rationalism, and stepped-up demand for measurable outcomes—come to dominate the school's values and culture. The author explores the impact of these changes on her own role as well as on the social, emotional, and psychological lives of the students. Although tempted to despair over the marginalization of psyche in an increasingly dehumanized world, she also finds cause for optimism in the upcoming generation of young people, which she sees as possessing remarkable psychological and relational intelligence. She ventures some observations about the unique struggles and gifts of the millennial generation, coming of age in the hyperconnected era of the Internet and largely outside the purview of the adults in their lives. Given the culture's failure to provide the psychological eldering these young people crave, she suggests that Jungians are uniquely qualified to fill this role and urges depth psychologists to consider the possibilities that exist in schools for fostering individuation, initiation, and other forms of soul-making. Finally, she explores some ideas for “emotional intelligence” programs grounded not in the standard cognitive-behavioral approaches but in imaginal, archetypal, and psychodynamic perspectives.     

The Assessment and Treatment of Post-Abortion Syndrome: A Systematic Case Study From Southern Africa

This article reports a clinical case study of “Grace”, a black Zimbabwean woman with post-abortion syndrome (PAS), a form of post-traumatic stress disorder precipitated by aborting an unwanted pregnancy. She was treated by a middle class white South African trainee Clinical Psychologist. The case narrative documents the assessment and the course of treatment which was guided by ongoing case formulation based on current evidence-based models. Factors that made her vulnerable to developing PTSD included active suppression of the memory of the event and lack of social support. An understanding of these factors was used to guide an effective intervention. In spite of the differences in culture and background between client and therapist, there was considerable commonality in their experience as young women and students who each had to balance personal and occupational priorities. The narrative also highlights the commonalities of Grace's experiences with those reported in the literature on post-abortion syndrome, which is mostly from the U. S. A. and Europe.     

Implementing a program in developmental guidance and counseling

This is a “how to” article. Too often in the past 10 years we have heard the term “change agent” applied to the counselor without the necessary filing in of how one goes about making major changes in a school or other social system. Tuma describes her early frustrations, her exposure to a “theory” of change, and the step-by-step application of the same—including how her plans had to change to meet the changing reality. And with a successful ending!     

Rolling away the stone: post-abortion women in the Christian community

This article seeks to bring to awareness and address the issues of a neglected group of people in need of pastoral care: women who have had an abortion. It offers some commentary regarding what many women experience following an abortion, focuses on the story of a specific woman, and goes on to offer a biblical perspective for a pastoral response to their needs. Responses to the article are offered by a healthcare chaplain and a seminary professor.     

Thomson and the current state of the abortion controversy

ABSTRACT Many philosophers who wish to defend abortion, but who have become frustrated by the resistance of the personhood question to yield to any nonarbitrary solution welcomed Judith Thomson's 'A defense of abortion.'Thomson argues that abortion is sometimes justifiable even if the foetus is a person. In this paper I argue that Thomson's argument is a defense of abortion, rather than merely extraction without death, only because of the current state of medical technology. Once the technology is in place to extract foetuses while preserving their lives and to allow them to develop to full term outside the uterus, Thomson cannot defend the killing of the foetus. If she is right, however, a woman will still have the right to have a foetus extracted from her body. Finally, it is pointed out that the source of the problem with Thomson's argument is the major premise in most arguments for the permissibility of abortion: a woman's right to control her own body. If the defence of abortion is to entail a defence of the termination of the foetus, then this premise, understood as the right to remove an unwanted entity from one's body or the right to alter one's body as one wishes, simply will not do the trick.     

无痛人流利弊谈

无痛人流术是对早孕妇女的一种人文关怀,它缓解了手术对身体和精神上的痛苦,但也引发了一些医疗、认识和社会问题。文中阐述了我国人流现状和无病人流术的实施方法,分析了无痛人流的利与弊。指出应加强生殖健康教育和避孕知识宣传,规范医疗广告,让青年妇女正确认识无痛人流。