Interrupted ways: Review study on the women's experience before legal pregnancy interruption

Abstract

The reaction to a pregnancy varies according to the circumstances in which it occurred. Uncertainty related to the pregnancy and the ability to keep it generate a distress in pregnant women, which can be mitigated or potentialized with examinations enabling fetal diagnosis while in prenatal period. This study purpose was to analyze through integrative review, the grief experience in the context of legal pregnancy interruption by fetal malformation. It was carried out in the period of July/2015, research on LILACS, SciELO and PePSIC databases, with descriptors "induced abortion", "remorse" "psychologic adaptation", "eugenic abortion" and "congenital abnormalities". The inclusion criteria were indexes articles, written in Portuguese, from psychology/psychiatry areas, regarding the legal pregnancy interruption by fetal malformation, which had the women's grief experience in their topics. 307 articles were found, though only 06 met the inclusion criteria and could be fully analyzed. The fetal malformation diagnosis is able to unbalance the parents' mental health. The pregnant woman tries, uselessly, to stay aways from the unborn baby, as a way of protection against the pain generated by the diagnosis. When confirming the existence of fetal abnormality, which previously was only a fear in a fantasy level, becomes a reality and the way every woman experiences this situation is unique, though they all experience the end of a wish, marked by guilt, rebellion and frustration feelings, which deserve proper attention and welcoming by health professionals.