Who requests voluntary interruption of pregnancy

: The sense that abortion is the last resort for women placed in a distress situation by the continuation of the pregnancy should be preserved. No woman requesting abortion regards it as trivial, and postabortal depressions are more common than the banalization of the procedure might imply. Reasons for terminating the pregnancy are usually among the following: breakup of the couple, a recent loss, advanced age of existing children, emigration, or material difficulty. The psychological situation of pregnant adolescents is confused and sad, mixing the normal difficulties of adolescents with the affective problems of pregnancy and perhaps family problems as well. Pregnancy to an adolescent can symbolically represent a lack, a competition, or a selfpunishment; it can function as a proof of femininity, or a means of informing the parents of the girl's sex life. Pregnancy and abortion are experienced differently by adult women, who at a certain age feel a strong drive to realize the wish for maternity. Nevertheless, some women suffer a permanent conflict between the desire to have and the desire not to have children. Adult women may desire pregnancy, even accidental pregnancy, to prove their fertility, relive their own childhood, reassure themselves about menopause, fill a lack, or for numerous other reasons apart from wanting a child. Voluntary abortion can be defined as a strong unconscious desire for pregnancy tied to a conscious rejection of maternity. Interviews with women requesting abortions disclose the numerous conflicts that may exist with a maternal image, with the woman's own body, in the case of a recent loss, or at the breakup of a marriage. Studies have shown that the ambience in which the abortion is performed is of overwhelming importance for the later attitude of the woman; personnel involved should avoid adding to the trauma already experienced by the woman by making her feel guilty.