Clinical Mental Health Counselors’ Political Ideology, Political Party Affiliation, and Treatment Approaches to Clients With a History of Abortion

Abstract With Roe v. Wade overturned, it is likely that more individuals will seek counseling for abortion-related challenges. The personal, social, and religious beliefs of mental health professionals affect mental health professionals’ treatment approaches toward politicized issues. In this study, we investigated the extent to which mental health professionals’ political ideology and party affiliation were related to their treatment approaches to abortion. The participants were 133 licensed clinical mental health counselors (CMHCs). Data on political ideology and party affiliation were collected with survey items, and data on treatment approaches were collected through a vignette. General linear modeling results showed that after controlling for other variables, CMHCs who held conservative political ideology or who were Republican did not differ from their peer CMHCs with respect to the scope of initial assessment, perception of the seriousness of abortion, and likelihood of using five interventions. To the best of our knowledge, our study was the first to document the limited interference of the political ideology and party affiliation of CMHCs working with clients with a history of abortion.