While a common abortion industry narrative claims restrictions on abortion cause mental health harm to women, a new study has found that abortion during a first pregnancy is associated with a greater incidence of mental health problems after the procedure than giving birth.
The study, conducted by Dr. James Studnicki, vice president and director of data analytics at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), and his colleagues, was published in the International Journal of Women’s Health.
Despite extensive international research that ties induced abortion to a greater risk for a variety of mental health issues, still, the abortion industry and its allies claim the opposite is true.
Planned Parenthood published a document that was last updated in 2014 that states:
For more than 30 years, substantive research studies have shown that legally induced abortion does not pose mental health problems for women. This finding has been reiterated in rigorous reviews of the scientific literature during the last five years.
According to the abortion vendor’s document, researchers in both London and the United States have concluded that:
- Unwanted pregnancy increases a woman’s risk of problems with her mental health.
- A woman with an unwanted pregnancy is as likely to have mental health problems from abortion as she is from giving birth.
- A woman with a history of mental health problems before abortion is more likely to have mental health problems after abortion.
- Circumstances, conditions, behaviors, and other factors associated with mental health problems are similar for women following abortion and women following childbirth.
- Pressure from a partner to terminate a pregnancy, negative attitudes about abortion, and negative attitudes about a woman’s experience of abortion may increase a woman’s risk of mental health problems after abortion.
More recently, in a 2023 update, the pro-abortion American Psychological Association (APA) published an article in its Monitor that claimed “scientific research from around the world shows having an abortion is not linked to mental health issues but restricting access is.”
“Research shows people who are denied abortions have worse physical and mental health, as well as worse economic outcomes than those who seek and receive them,” APA stated, adding:
Meanwhile, the same research shows getting a wanted abortion does not cause significant psychological problems, despite beliefs to the contrary. In a landmark study of more than 1,000 women across 21 states, those who were allowed to obtain an abortion were no more likely to report negative emotions, mental health symptoms, or suicidal thoughts than women who were denied an abortion.
“The influence of an induced abortion on women’s mental health is a highly contested topic in the literature,” Studnicki et al. state.
The researchers used Medicaid claims payment data rather than patient surveys; a 17-year observation period with long pre- and post-pregnancy outcome periods to address the issue of pre-existing mental illness, and a wide variety of mental health conditions applied to both outpatient and inpatient services.
Each woman in the study was assigned to one of the two cohorts based on the outcome of their first pregnancy: abortion (n = 1,331) or birth (n = 3,517).
The study found that abortion, compared to live birth, is associated with a higher risk and likelihood of mental health issues during the reproductive years, with larger differences for inpatient treatment than outpatient. Women with first-pregnancy births were also found to have more, rather than less, mental health problems before the first pregnancy.
Compared to women whose first pregnancy ended in a birth, women with first-pregnancy abortions had significantly greater increases in mental health treatment:
- 3.4 times greater likelihood of an increase in outpatient visits
- 5.7 times greater likelihood of an increase in hospital admissions
- 19.6 times greater likelihood of an increase in days of hospital stay
The researchers concluded that abortion is associated with a greater incidence of later mental illness than birth, and, additionally, “the difference is not explainable by prior medical history.”
“Advocates persist in promoting the idea that induced abortion delivers psychological benefits to women who choose to terminate their pregnancies,” said Studnicki in a statement, highlighting further:
A recent statement from the American Psychological Association argues that limits on abortion create “mental health harms.” Yet an extensive and persuasive body of international peer-reviewed scientific publications reveals an entirely different story. Within the last decade alone, studies from Finland, Italy, China, Germany, Korea and the United States have all linked abortion with an increased risk of a variety of mental health problems including anxiety, depression, suicide and other psychiatric conditions.
“Our study is congruent with the evolving consensus of peer reviewed science – abortion is a threat to mental health!” he said.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
