Fantasies about the fetus in wanted and unwanted pregnancies

Abstract

Clinical experience suggests that women seeking abortion inhibit, either partially or completely, the normal process of fantasy about the fetus. To study this phenomenon more systematically, we compared five categories of fantasies in women (N=28)who wanted to carry their pregnancies to term with similar data in women (N=18)who did not want to carry their pregnancies to term and were seeking therapeutic abortion. All women desiring term pregnancies reported fantasies in multiple categories, and none denied having any fantasies concerning their unborn child. Sixteen of eighteen women seeking therapeutic abortion denied fantasy in any of the five categories tested: sex of the child-to-be, personal qualities and achievement, name of child, eye color, and imagining holding and/or nurturing the child. The remaining two women reported only fantasies about the sex of the child. The data obtained in this study tentatively support the hypothesis that women seeking abortion inhibit the process of fantasy formation about the fetus within them.