Abstract
AbstractThis article traces the origins and production of the Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS), a fallacious bio‐ideological construct which alleges a link between abortion and mental health risks. Through the work of social actors (anti‐abortion activists, policy makers, funders, advocates, and researchers) involved in its construction, this diagnosis was disseminated and diffused into public policy in the US and is used as ‘evidence’ in deterring people from having abortions. This is despite overwhelming evidence that abortion poses no greater mental health risks than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term. Circulation of this fallacious discourse invalidates, distorts, and homogenizes the lived experiences of reproductive people, contributing to epistemologies of ignorance as pertains to women's health and reproductive experiences. This article examines the invention of PAS, exploring its political underpinnings and ongoing effects. We unearth how psychology and medicine have been coopted to function as handmaidens in passing conservative legislation, attending to the process of willful distortion underpinning this history. Uncovering the systemic nature of the production of ignorance around reproductive people's bodies and psychologies is a necessary step in providing liberatory epistemologies for pregnant people and in enabling individuals to make their own meaning of their abortions.
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