I created a new character ("itani hate me") and I tried to lower it's itani standing by aborting every mission, result: "due to your past record we will overlook this" even tough I never completed a single mission. Almost every mission says this; even tough I aborted more than 20 missions without giving anything back.

If you have good standing, your chances are much better for not losing standing.

If you just abort the mission through the station interface, you'll take the faction hit. :)