Abortion Negatively Impacts a Woman's Health

Study Confirms Abortion Negatively Impacts Women’s Health [Excerpts]

A recent study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has concluded what pro-abortion groups have tried to discount for decades: abortion substantially increases a woman’s risk of mental health problems. More specifically, post-abortive women experience an 81% increased risk of having subsequent mental health issues. Hundreds of published studies have demonstrated the distinct correlation between induced abortion and the devastating psychological issues it has on women.

Several recent literary reviews on this correlation (including one from the American Psychological Association) have concluded that abortion does not significantly impact a woman’s mental health. However, these studies are unreliable for a few notable reasons:

First, there have been just a few studies comprised of pregnancies that were unintentional but carried to term as a control group. Sometimes pregnancies that are originally intended are aborted, and sometimes unintended pregnancies become wanted as the pregnancy continues, so the wantedness of the pregnancy can alter over time. The intendedness of a pregnancy is determined only by “intended” or “unintended,” when many women may actually feel their intendedness of the pregnancy lies somewhere in between. Half of pregnancies in America are labeled “unintended.” Adolescents and women over forty years of age report that their pregnancies are unintended over 75% of the time. This means most women in control groups of the research studies that compare abortion with full-term pregnancies actually gave birth to “unintended” babies, even if this is not explicitly evaluated.

Second, abundant pieces of data in peer-reviewed literature were not included in those studies. According to the study from the BJP, “in the 2008 review by Charles et al, several of the studies that were overlooked actually met the inclusion criteria,” and “studies examining substance misuse were not included in two of the three reviews, with no rationale for excluding them.” Interestingly, many studies have concluded that there is a strong correlation between induced abortion and subsequent substance abuse, which is a known prominent mental health issue.

Third, the methods by which studies were chosen in the literary reviews were insufficient. The samples of studies introduced to the reviews were either overly broad, “resulting in incorporation of results from numerous weaker studies,” or the studies were too specific, resulting in unjustified elimination of sound studies.”

Fourth, the number of effects was not determined by any of these three research teams although there was no reason to neglect doing so. A 2003 review published by Thorp et al “resulted in the conclusion that abortion is associated with an increased risk of depression that may lead to self-harm.” This study neglected to examine a large quantity of mental health effects as well.

(Jennie Stone, "Study Confirms Abortion Negatively Impacts Women’s Health," LifeNews.com, 10/11/11).