19-year-old “Cathy” had been diagnosed with what the study reporting her death called a “sociopathic personality,” but before we can examine her death, it is important to understand what that actually meant.
During the 1970s, this diagnosis was used for what today’s medical professionals recognize as a wide variety of conditions and disorders. Many conditions that were poorly understood at the time also had a high chance of being misdiagnosed in this way. Cathy may have had any number of conditions, including but not limited to bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, head trauma or even misdiagnosed ADHD or autism. In the early 70s, some people were even diagnosed with sociopathic or psychopathic personality disturbances based on criteria that would not qualify for a mental illness by today’s standards. It should also be noted that the psyche of an older teenager is still developing in ways that make most (if not all) modern psychiatrists extremely reluctant to diagnose such a young patient as what would be colloquially called a “sociopath”.
But whatever Cathy’s condition really was, one thing is known; she was in real distress and needed help. Her doctors theorized that her pregnancy was aggravating her existing mental health problems and had her undergo a D&E abortion (colloquially known as a dismemberment abortion for the brutal nature of the method) in a hospital at 14 weeks pregnant. This was an extremely dubious course of action, especially since Cathy had undergone one abortion previously and was now reportedly saying that she was going to kill herself. (This behavior was described in the journal as “suicidal threats” and did not appear to have been taken by those around her as the very real sign of distress that it was.)
The idea that an abortion would stabilize Cathy’s mental health proved to be horribly wrong. Abortion is not a recognized psychiatric treatment for any condition.
The abortion failed to stabilize Cathy, and appears to have pushed her already vulnerable state further into crisis. Instead of getting better, she deteriorated rapidly. Four days after the abortion, she used carbon monoxide to kill herself.
Given Cathy’s psychiatric health, it was reckless and negligent to put her through an abortion— and even more so with the claim that it would relieve her mental health problems. In her time of crisis, she needed real care, not abortion.
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