AUTHOR=Testoni Ines , Finco Nicoletta , Keisari Shoshi , Orkibi Hod , Azoulay Bracha 

TITLE=Conflicts Between Women's Religiosity and Sense of Free Will in the Context of Elective Abortion: A Qualitative Study in the Worst Period of Italy's COVID-19 Crisis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.619684

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.619684

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=This qualitative study considers the relationship between abortion, bereavement, and the effects of
the COVID-19 lockdown. The investigation was inspired by a case wherein a woman showed
symptoms of prolonged grief 38 years after an abortion. Nine women who had undergone an
abortion were interviewed in three phases (one month, six months, and one year after the event) to
consider the possible evolution of their bereavement. The third phase was concurrent with the
COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, with Pope Francis’s Easter declaration against abortion. All
the interviews were conducted and analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Results showed that the abortion experience led to physical, relational and psychological suffering,
much in the same way as perinatal grief. Most of the women who participated were Catholics,
however, religiosity did not help them to overcome their sorrow, and the Pope’s declaration
intensified their grief. Though religiosity is a possible resilience factor in other stressful conditions,
in this case it is a factor that aggravates suffering. Finally, we discuss the difficulties experienced by
Catholic women who choose to have an abortion and assert the necessity of psychological and
spiritual interventions to support these women.