General Information

• What is PASS? - PASS stands for Post Abortion Stress Syndrome, and is a problem that can affect some women after an abortion. Not every woman who has an abortion is affected by it. Some women have no problems at all after an abortion, and feel only relief. We who gather at this website believe in PASS, and believe it is a real syndrome, mainly because we have experienced it ourselves. Many of us are 'prochoice', and have found that this website is the only place where we can have our problems recognized, and find help for them. PASS has become a big battlefield issue between the prolife and prochoice majorities.
  The differing views over abortion has started a 'war' between Americans. How do the two 'sides' in the battle view PASS?
  
• Prolife Views - The Prolife majority believes in PASS, although they tend to call it "PAS" - for Post Abortion Stress or Post Abortion Syndrome. Prolife people also tend to believe that every woman who has an abortion gets PASS, and the ones that say they don't or that appear to be unaffected are only in 'denial' about their feelings. Prolife people use PAS as part of their agenda that says that abortion hurts women, as well as kills an unborn child, and therefore abortion should be made illegal. Prolife Organizations do provide counseling and outreaches to women needing help with PASS. The most popular ones are "Project Rachel", run by the Catholic Church, and "Healing Hearts", run by another religious organization. This is only a brief synopsis for the purpose of explaining PASS - to research Prolife Views in more detail, look up prolife websites on a search engine

• Prochoice Views - The Prochoice majority does not believe in PASS, and says there is no such thing as PASS after an abortion. They claim that a very few women may have some short-lasting feelings of grief or guilt, but that this is normal and not something that can be classified as a "Syndrome". The prochoice majority is interested in keeping abortion legal and unrestricted, so as part of their agenda they deny any knowledge of PASS, and provide no outreaches or counseling to women needing help with PASS. They will refer women to private counseling in their area if a woman calls and asks for help with PASS. This is only a brief synopsis for the purpose of explaining PASS - to research Prochoice Views in more detail, look up prochoie websites on a search engine

  So where does this leave women who are struggling after an abortion, regardless of their "political view"? That's where this website comes in. My name is jilly, and I created this website myself in June 1998. ("jilly" is a 'nickname', this is not my real name. For reasons of privacy I do not give out my real name.) I am a prochoice woman who believes that abortion should remain legal, but I also believe in PASS, because I have experienced it myself. I am 36 and have had five abortions, and I also have three children from my marriage. I believe this gives me a unique view, because my reasons and situations for the five abortions have been very different, yet I suffered from "PASS" after each one, regardless of my age or the circumstances.

• Causes of PASS
  The causes of PASS have not been determined yet. In my informal Internet based research, I have found there are two possible main causes.
  1. Situational influences and the emotional feelings of the woman -

  2. Hormonal influences - I believe that the hormonal changes involved in the sudden cessation of pregnancy may be a contributing factor. This aspect can be compared to women who have mild to severe PMS every month, while other women have no problems each month, and to mothers that suffer from mild to severe Post Partum Depression after the birth of a child, while other mothers have no problems afterwards. Both PMS and Post Partum Depression have been identified as having hormonal causes and 'triggers'. Women who are sensitive to hormonal methods of birth control also seem to have a more severe problem with PMS and/or Post Partum Depression. My theory is that women who are sensitive to hormone level changes that result in things like PMS and Post Partum Depression may also be prone to Post Abortion Stress Syndrome, because an abortion results in the ending of a pregnancy, just like a birth does, and therefore the hormone levels after an ended pregnancy, no matter how the pregnancy is ended, are the same. However this connection has not been officially studied yet, and there is no official scientific data.
     • Frequently Asked Questions about PASS

     • The "Do I have PASS?" Quiz

     • PMDD real and PASS not?

     • Press Releases and News about this site

     • Daily News about abortion around the world.

     Surveys on this Site

     I have interactive, ongoing surveys that women who visit this site take. You can quote the information from these surveys in your reports and research. However it must be noted that these are only online surveys, and I have no way of verifying who the person taking the survey is. Therefore the results cannot be used as 'hard' scientific statistics, only as a social survey.
     Click Here to see all surveys available, and the results

     Abortion Statistics - The Alan Guttmacher Institute has US and worldwide statistics and information about abortion - http://www.agi-usa.org/ - for abortion stats, click on the link that says abortion at the top left.

     We do not have any pictures of abortions on this site, or any information about how abortions are performed, or abortion procedure details. Please try searching some clinic sites or Planned Parenthood for this information