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Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor (olor)| pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | religion | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
More articles by Dr. Soucasaux: Anatomical drawings - Anovulatory cycles - Archetypal aspects of the female genitals - The breasts: some morphological aspects - Colposcopy - Comments on the corpus luteum and related aspects - Comments on some anatomical and symbolic aspects of the female pelvis - The curious relations between androgens and estrogens in women - Drospirenone Oral Contraceptives - Due to prohibition, Brazilian women don't have access to modern medicinal abortion - Endocrinology of menstruation - The Fallopian tubes - Female sexual response - The Gräfenberg Spot (G-Spot) - The Gynecologic Palpation (descendant of "The Touch") - Gynecological assistance: the three basic areas - Gynecology and Gynecologic Surgery - Gynecologist versus obstetrician: what lies behind the combination? - "Gyneco-obstetric-surgical" stubborness and the perpetuation of one of the greatest mistakes of women's medicine - Hypermenorrhea and/or Menorrhagia (Prolonged and/or Excessive Menstrual Bleedings) - Hypertrichosis, Hirsutism and Androgenic Manifestations in Women - Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKHauser) Syndrome - Menstrual toxin: An old name for a real thing? - Nature and the ovaries - On the Intimate, or Small-Scale, Mechanisms of Menstruation - On the Strange Nature of the Ovaries - Oral hormonal contraceptives (the "Pill") - The Ovaries: Some Functional and Archetypal Considerations - Peculiarities of the Female Genitals' Sensory Innervation - Physiology of menstruation - Polycystic ovaries syndrome - The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, Its Implications for Women, and Abortion - Premenstrual congestion of the breasts - Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) - The Psychology of Gynecology part 1 (part 2) - Psychosomatic and symbolic aspects of menstruation - Psychosomatic gynecology - Some Details on the Function of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovaries Axis - Stanislav Grof's Perinatal Matrixes of the Unconscious and Women's Medicine - Symmetric Patterns in the Female Genitals - Thoughts on Female Sexual Psychology - Uninterrupted use of hormonal contraceptives for menstrual suppression: why I do not recommend it - The uterine cervix - Uterine contractility - The Uterus and the Female "Passive-Active" - Women's corporeal consciousness and experience - Women's Experience of the Breasts - Women's Undesired Pregnancies and Women's Right to Abortion and see his Art of Menstruation

Undesired Pregnancies and Women's Right to Abortion

by Dr. Nelson Soucasaux, Brazilian gynecologist

The instinctive dualism between the rejection of pregnancy and the desire to become pregnant is a very special feature of the extremely ambiguous situation typical of women's nature and constitution. The problems related to the confrontation between women's two halves, the aphrodisiac side and the maternal instinct (their demetric side), are extremely complex, so the existence of a conflict here is perfectly understandable. (For more details on this subject, see my article "The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, its Implications for Women and Abortion," published here at the MUM.)

Female eroticism is, to a considerable extent, self-eroticism, and related to the woman's body itself and to its aesthetics, and possessing a strong narcissist component. Women are concerned with the preservation of their aesthetics and the shape and fitness of their bodies. The great care with which women beautify themselves clearly demonstrates this fact. On the other hand, for the fulfillment of the maternal instinct, a considerable sacrifice of the female body is demanded (not to mention the other implications and problems resulting from motherhood in other areas of women's lives). From my point of view, the main reason for women's ambiguity between desiring and rejecting pregnancy lies just here.

It is an undeniable medical fact that pregnancy and child birth greatly damage women because, besides the physiological overcharge and even the risk of death they cause, they distort their bodies and stretch their tissues, which do not always return to normal during and after puerperium. This fact conflicts with the great female effort to preserve the aesthetics, the shape and the health of their bodies. From the corporeal point of view, pregnancy and childbirth do not benefit women in almost anything except for some reduction on the incidence of breast cancer (See Note 1 below). In fact, they are much more prejudicial, since they necessarily imply considerable anatomic and physiological "aggression" to their bodies.

The aforementioned duality of female attitudes regarding avoiding and desiring pregnancy has several consequences both on women's lives and gynecologic practice. Among them we can mention the irregular use of contraceptives, the occurrence of conflicting pregnancies and the problem of abortion.

Let's talk about abortion.

I consider the right to the interruption of undesired pregnancies, that is, the right to abortion, a fundamental right of women. This right is related to the self-preservation of the female body against the arduous sacrifices that gestation and childbirth impose upon it. I think that the so frequently debated rights of the embryo cannot prevail over the rights of the woman who houses it inside her body - a body that has to be considerably sacrificed so that the embryo can develop and be born - especially if this happens against her will. The physically injurious aspects of pregnancy and childbirth for women are always ignored by those who, many times with fanaticism, are against the legalization of abortion or discriminate against it. Nevertheless, as I said above, these physical injuries are a medical fact, a medical reality, and all of us gynecologists know them quite well.

We live in a culture that excessively mythicizes the "wonders" of motherhood and tries not to see its negative side - and everything in life has its positive and negative sides. In spite of its pleasant, fulfilling and constructive aspects when it is fully desired, pregnancy has a harmful side. What I am about to say may be shocking, but, biologically (and naturally), the embryo invades and plunders the woman's body. And birth is a violent event ­ not only for the mother but also for the child (See Note 2, below).

A woman has to desire very much to be a mother if she is up to tolerating willingly and with satisfaction all of the sacrifices and risks inherent to pregnancy and parturition and if she is up to receiving the child with love.

Besides this aspect of the preservation of the female body against the "natural aggressions" of pregnancy, there are all of the other reasons that have been much discussed by everybody and that, in my opinion, also give women the perfect and entire right to abortion. However, it seems to me that the facts emphasized here (often forgotten or not correctly conceptualized by most of those who debate the issue) are the ones that can finally put an end to the debate, recognizing once and for all this fundamental right of women regarding their bodies.

Faced with the accidental occurrence of an undesired gestation, abortion is the only way a woman has to preserve herself against the corporeal aggressions of a pregnancy. In such a situation, considering the very peculiar biological situation of the embryo, its rights cannot prevail over those of the woman who carries it inside her body.

For a pregnancy that is left to evolve under conditions of strong rejection, I would like to emphasize that the implications of this fact for the child who will be born are also considerable and, therefore, should not be neglected. Unfortunately, this is another aspect that those who oppose women's right to abortion naively or tendentiously often forget.

The absence of awareness of this natural ambiguous situation between the rejection of pregnancy and the desire to become pregnant by most women has several consequences in gynecologic practice. Among them are: 1) the incorrect use of contraceptives with all of its consequent worries, creating many difficulties for a safe, calm and pleasant sexual life; 2) the frequent occurrence of undesired pregnancies (or desired on the one hand and rejected on the other, consciously or unconsciously) that have to be solved through abortion; 3) the problems resulting from pregnancies that are left to evolve under strong rejection and, consequently, in adverse emotional conditions.

Note 1: It is well known that, according to several statistical studies, women who have more than two or three children - mostly if the first gestation takes place earlier in life - have a minor incidence of breast cancer. From the corporeal point of view, this seems to be the only beneficial aspect of pregnancy to women. This relative protection is due to the specific hormonal patterns of pregnancy. Even so, given the high incidence of the disease, the number of women with children who develop breast cancer is also enormous.

Note 2: As to the traumatic aspects of pelvic parturition for children, see Stanislav Grof's studies on the "perinatal matrixes of the unconscious." According to Grof, they consist of unconscious psychological contents clearly related to the phases of childbirth blended with archetypal and mythological elements, and are detected at deep psychical research (Grof, S.: "Beyond the Brain - Birth, Death and Transcendence in Psychotherapy," University of New York, Albany, 1985). 

The text above is an adapted excerpt from my book "Novas Perspectivas em Ginecologia" ("New Perspectives in Gynecology"), published by Imago Editora, Rio de Janeiro, 1990, and also a further development of my article "The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, its Implications for Women and Abortion," published here at the MUM. For more information on "Novas Perspectivas em Ginecologia," see page http://www.nelsonginecologia.med.br/novas.htm , at my web site www.nelsonginecologia.med.br.

Copyright  Nelson Soucasaux  1990, 2004.
____________________________________________

Nelson Soucasaux  is a gynecologist dedicated to clinical, preventive and psychosomatic gynecology. Graduated in 1974 by Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he is the author of several articles published in medical journals and of the books "Novas Perspectivas em Ginecologia" ("New Perspectives in Gynecology") and "Os Órgãos Sexuais Femininos: Forma, Função, Símbolo e Arquétipo" ("The Female Sexual Organs: Shape, Function, Symbol and Archetype"), published by Imago Editora, Rio de Janeiro, 1990, 1993. He has been working in his private clinic since 1975.

Web site (Portuguese-English): www.nelsonginecologia.med.br

E-mail: nelsons@nelsonginecologia.med.br


NEWS | homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor (olor)| pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | religion | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
More articles by Dr. Soucasaux: Anatomical drawings - Anovulatory cycles - Archetypal aspects of the female genitals - The breasts: some morphological aspects - Colposcopy - Comments on the corpus luteum and related aspects - Comments on some anatomical and symbolic aspects of the female pelvis - The curious relations between androgens and estrogens in women - Drospirenone Oral Contraceptives - Due to prohibition, Brazilian women don't have access to modern medicinal abortion - Endocrinology of menstruation - The Fallopian tubes - Female sexual response - The Gräfenberg Spot (G-Spot) - The Gynecologic Palpation (descendant of "The Touch") - Gynecological assistance: the three basic areas - Gynecology and Gynecologic Surgery - Gynecologist versus obstetrician: what lies behind the combination? - "Gyneco-obstetric-surgical" stubborness and the perpetuation of one of the greatest mistakes of women's medicine - Hypermenorrhea and/or Menorrhagia (Prolonged and/or Excessive Menstrual Bleedings) - Hypertrichosis, Hirsutism and Androgenic Manifestations in Women - Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKHauser) Syndrome - Menstrual toxin: An old name for a real thing? - Nature and the ovaries - On the Intimate, or Small-Scale, Mechanisms of Menstruation - On the Strange Nature of the Ovaries - Oral hormonal contraceptives (the "Pill") - The Ovaries: Some Functional and Archetypal Considerations - Peculiarities of the Female Genitals' Sensory Innervation - Physiology of menstruation - Polycystic ovaries syndrome - The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, Its Implications for Women, and Abortion - Premenstrual congestion of the breasts - Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) - The Psychology of Gynecology part 1 (part 2) - Psychosomatic and symbolic aspects of menstruation - Psychosomatic gynecology - Some Details on the Function of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovaries Axis - Stanislav Grof's Perinatal Matrixes of the Unconscious and Women's Medicine - Symmetric Patterns in the Female Genitals - Thoughts on Female Sexual Psychology - Uninterrupted use of hormonal contraceptives for menstrual suppression: why I do not recommend it - The uterine cervix - Uterine contractility - The Uterus and the Female "Passive-Active" - Women's corporeal consciousness and experience - Women's Experience of the Breasts - Women's Undesired Pregnancies and Women's Right to Abortion and see his Art of Menstruation