Supporting Women at the Time of Abortion: A Mixed‐Methods Study of Male Partner Experiences and Perspectives

Abstract

Positive narratives regarding men's support for the abortion decisions of their partners provide a counterpoint to commonly held negative narratives. Future research should explore how supportive men who accompany partners at the time of an abortion may improve women's abortion experiences.

Male partners' expected response, coping mechanisms, social and health institutions expectations after early pregnancy loss: A systematic review

“…Literature suggests that the male partners' psychological aspects are often overlooked as they are perceived as their partners' supporters (Nguyen et al, 2018) [43] . Therefore, underestimating the loss impact on men has caused a vague understanding and ignorance relating to how they would react to such losses and what they go through emotionally.…”

“…Men who have suffered from a miscarriage rely on their female partners' support to overcome the negative emotions post a miscarriage. However, a positive support system from the healthcare professionals also greatly affects a couple coping with the loss [49,32,43] . Horstman et al (2020) [20] stated that male partners are inclined to use metaphors to cope with their partner's miscarriage, such as lost gift, cataclysm, death of a loved one, emptiness and a rock, guard, and repairman.…”

“…Men tend to experience both positive and painful feelings four months after the loss. However, positive emotions such as relief, responsibility, maturity, and release were discovered after 12 months, and their initial attitude towards pregnancy has changed forever (Nguyen et al, 2018) [43] .…”

“…Guidelines and steps need to be taken that indicate the gravity of the matter, that is, men's inclusion and the validation of their emotional states when experiencing an early pregnancy loss (Imperial College of London, 2020) [22] . Managing a male partner's psychological state during a pregnancy loss can be viewed through the lens of Combined Caring, Support Groups, Contraceptive Counselling (Swanson et al, 2009; Nguyen et al, 2018) [54,43] , and even their presence during the medical procedures have said to have positive impacts on the psychological wellbeing of the male partners.…”

“…Similarly, it was also found out that men tend to hide their emotions such as anxiety when experiencing a pregnancy loss due to the expectation of psychologically protecting their partners as well as adhering to the societal pressures and beliefs such as "staying strong" and "men don't share". Researchers such as Quinlivan et al (2012) [49] , Leichtentritt and Weinberg-Kurnik (2016) [32] and Nguyen et al (2018) [43] and stressed the importance of administrative and emotional support; provision of counselling is growing and is viewed as an important tool in coping with emotions post a pregnancy loss.…”