Abortion may be bad for a woman’s mental health. Discuss

Last November, Margaret Forrester, a mental health worker for the Central North West London Mental Health Trust in Camden was suspended for giving a colleague a charity booklet called “Forsaken – Women From Taunton Talk About Abortion” to a colleague –  they’d been discussing the information they offered to patients. It had the stories of five women who had experienced what the author describes as ‘post-abortion syndrome’, including depression, relationship issues, suicidal feelings and fertility problems. So, the downside of abortion, then.

To begin with – no problem. Her colleague didn’t seem offended. But a few days later her manager told her she was being sent home on ‘special leave with full pay’. She was ordered not to see any patients and to stay away from any NHS site. She has since been allowed to return to work, but Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, said:

‘It is clear that the booklet Miss Forrester distributed offers a seriously unbalanced and one-sided view of abortion and that it is offensive to NHS staff.