A study of contraception as related to multiple unwanted pregnancies.

A group of 25 women who had had two or more therapeutic abortions was compared with a control group of 100 women who had had only one abortion. The two groups could not be distinguished on the basis of the available demographic data. Emotional problems that interfere with the proper utilization of contraceptives were apparent in the index group and 76% of patients in this group had a primary psychiatric disorder as compared with 52% in the control group. The most common psychiatric diagnosis in the index group was chronic depressive reaction. A therapeutic abortion in the index group did not prompt an increased or more effective utilization of contraceptives.