Well-Being Before and After Pregnancy Termination: The Consequences of Abortion and Miscarriage on Satisfaction With Various Domains of Life

Abstract

The consequences of pregnancy outcomes other than live birth on subjective well-being have rarely been analysed in research to date. This study examines pre-event determinants as well as the temporary and long-term effects of induced abortion and miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) on satisfaction with various domains of life. The data were derived from the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam). The longitudinal sample consists of 5331 women of reproductive age, of whom 214 women had an induced abortion, 331 women had a miscarriage, and 1156 women had a live birth during the observation period. First, pre-event measures of women who had an induced abortion and women who had a miscarriage were compared with the pre-event measures of those women who gave birth. Second, fixed effects models were used to examine whether overall or domain-specific life satisfaction changed following a pregnancy termination. The results show that pregnancies resulting in abortion or miscarriage were less frequently preceded by pregnancy intentions compared to those resulting in live birth, and that induced abortion—but not miscarriage—was furthermore accompanied by lower pre-event satisfaction than live birth. Following both miscarriage and induced abortion, women experienced temporary declines in overall life satisfaction and showed persistently lower satisfaction in several domains of life. With regard to induced abortion, pre-event measures were a better predictor of overall well-being than the consequences of the event itself. Low life satisfaction might therefore be a risk factor for having an abortion rather than a result.