ABSTRACT
Of all the events in the life of a family none is more poignantly accompanied by worries and costs than the advent of a child. The practical problems are often overwhelming; the subjective problems accentuate the practical. Pregnancy itself quite normally causes not only bodily discomfort but also mental disturbances of varying degree and character. The bearing of a child is an experience filled with rich emotions, but there is instability in the situation. The knowledge of being carried by a physiological process to some unavoidable and final event also brews a feeling of suspense that may turn into more than dramatic tension. As social conditions have developed, other difficulties have been added with the result that far too often anxiety, and sometimes despair, has come to accompany the prospect of childbearing. Abortion might under those physical, mental, and social circumstances become a more tempting solution because of the momentary pressure than it need be under a long-range view of the same problems. Getting rid of the child should not be regarded as the way out that society should sanction. The actual problems involved in child-bearing must be scrutinized in order to find out where society can give sensible support.
