Influence of maternal distress during pregnancy on complications in pregnancy and delivery.

Children of women whose applications for legal abortion in 1960 had been refused were compared with the next children born in the same delivery wards, whose mothers were of similar age, parity and social class. 133 pairs thus matched were studied concerning the incidence of complications during pregnancy, delivery and puerperium. There were no statistically significant differences during either pregnancy, delivery or puerperium. The conclusion is that children of unwanted pregnancies do not run a greater risk of damage during delivery than the controls and the hypothesis of a negative influence due to an initially unwanted pregnancy was not supported.