title: Abortion ethics--women's post abortion assessments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Induced abortion is often discussed in terms of ethics. The aim of the present report is to describe the abortion ethics as it was expressed by women undergoing a legal abortion.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Moral considerations expressed during semistructured interviews by 128 women two weeks after a first trimester abortion in Stockholm 1987-90 are reported.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The women had faced a choice between abortion and parenthood. At the time of the abortion many of them were living under conditions that meant they were unable to offer a child the security they regarded as a child's right. The conflict the women spontaneously described as their main moral dilemma was not a conflict between the woman and the fetus, but a conflict between several close relationships, also concerning the prospective father. The ethics that the women applied to the problems of abortion was founded on a long-term responsibility to care for persons in their relationships.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The women interviewed had three levels of moral reasoning simultaneously present. 1. A theoretical level--most of all concerning other women--a liberal view of rights: abortion should be a freely obtainable option. 2. A theoretical level--above all, concerning themselves--a restrictive deontological view: the extinction of life is morally wrong and should be avoided. 3. A practical level--when the problem was a reality: a consequentialist ethics of care. According to this ethics of care it was important that the abortion could be performed as early as possible during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holmgren
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uddenberg
mesh_terms: D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D004989:Ethics; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D033261:Maternal-Fetal Relations; D035863:Moral Development; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012106:Research; D012752:Shame; D013548:Sweden