Mental Health

Recently released medical evidence demonstrates that ending an unwanted pregnancy through abortion can be more harmful to a woman’s mental health than carrying the baby to term.

For decades, so-called “experts” have denied that abortion can be a psychologically devastating experience for some women. Articles appearing in medical journals were dismissed as “pro-life propaganda” whenever a study showed that choosing abortion had a more negative effect on a woman’s mental health than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term. Criticism leveled at these studies included small sample sizes or insufficient control of variables. But in the past two years, several well-controlled, robust, statistically sound studies have been published that have caused the psychiatric community to reconsider whether or not abortion can have a negative effect on a woman’s mental health.

In 2009, the Journal of Psychiatric Research published a rigorous study that used a large national database, the first nationally representative survey of mental health in the United States, to ensure validity and statistical significance. A total of 8,098 respondents participated in the study, representing 48 states. The study examined 22 variables and their impact on 15 types of mental health outcomes. Results: “For 12 out of 15 of the mental health outcomes examined, abortion made a significant contribution independent of all control variables….The abortion variable made a significant independent contribution to more mental health outcomes than a history of rape, sexual abuse in childhood, physical assault in adulthood, physical abuse in childhood, and neglect….” [1]

Sadly, many abortions are done because a woman mistakenly believes that carrying the pregnancy to term would cause her to have lasting mental health problems. In reality, some of these abortions have actually caused mental health issues. In fact, according to the Journal of Psychiatric Research, in the article published in 2009 mentioned above, “What is most notable in this study is that abortion contributed significant independent effects to numerous mental health problems above and beyond a variety of other traumatizing and stressful life experiences. The strongest effects based on the attributable risks indicated that abortion is responsible for more than 10% of the population incidence of alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, drug dependence, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and bipolar disorder in the population.” [emphasis added] More than 10% of these mental health problems have been caused by abortion. And what is the cost to the mother and to society of dealing with and treating these mental health disorders?! Surely women should know that abortion can cause great psychological harm to them.

In 2008, the results of a large study conducted in Australia were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The 3,474 women who participated were followed from birth for 21 years, with psychiatric interviews conducted periodically throughout the 21 years. Results: “Women with a history of abortion or miscarriage were twice as likely to meet criteria for alcohol, cannabis [marijauna], other illicit drug use, depressive or anxiety disorder compared with those who were never pregnant or who had given birth.” [2]

The Scandinavian Journal of Public Health also published an article in 2008 describing a long-term study which followed a representative sample of 768 young women for 11 years. Surveys were conducted at various time points, and numerous variables were controlled. Results: “Those who had an abortion in their twenties had clearly increased rates of depression at age 27, and this difference remained significant after controlling for confounding variables.” [3]

The most comprehensive examination of the effect of abortion on women’s mental health was done in New Zealand. The results of this 30-year study were published in 2008 in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Data used for the analysis were collected in a long-term study of a group of 1,265 children born in an urban area of New Zealand. Participants were followed from birth through age 30. The research took into account a wide variety of variables, and several types of statistical analyses were conducted to ensure the conclusions were robust. Results: “The major finding of this analysis is that even following extensive control for prospectively and concurrently measured confounders, women who had had abortions had rates of mental health problems that were about 30% higher than rates of disorder in other women. In contrast, none of the other pregnancy outcomes (pregnancy loss, live birth following unwanted pregnancy...and other live birth) was consistently related to significantly increased risks of mental health problems.” [4]

According to this article, entitled “Abortion and Mental Health Disorders: Evidence from a 30-year Longitudinal Study,” the findings of this study have important implications for societies like ours in which “over 90% of abortions are authorized on the grounds that proceeding with the pregnancy would pose a serious threat to the woman’s mental health.” Now we have good, solid, irrefutable medical data that says continuing the pregnancy is better for their mental health than having an abortion, and that from a mental health standpoint the worst thing they can do is have an abortion. Date from four different countries, where some of these women were tracked for three decades and the statistical evaluation controlled for pertinent variables, can’t be wrong!

Quoting again from the 30-year study, “In general, there is no evidence in the literature on abortion and mental health that suggests that abortion reduces the mental health risks of unwanted or mistimed pregnancy. Although some studies have concluded that abortion has neutral effects on mental health, no study has reported that exposure to abortion reduced mental health risks.” [emphasis added] “These trends are evident in the present study, which shows that although abortion was associated with increased risks of mental health problems, no increase was evident for those having unwanted pregnancies that came to term.” [emphasis added] The article concludes with, “…there is nothing in this study that would suggest that the termination of pregnancy was associated with lower risks of mental health problems than birth following an unwanted pregnancy. This evidence clearly poses a challenge to the use of psychiatric reasons to justify abortion for women having unwanted pregnancies….”

Instead of providing women with abortions and causing them to have mental health issues, we should care for pregnant women, get them into a prenatal care program, help them navigate the social services available at the state and county level, help them acquire the skills and resources needed to parent if they decide to parent, and help them place an unwanted child for adoption if they feel they cannot parent at this time.

1. Coleman, PK, Coyle, CT, Shuping, M, Rue, VM. Induced abortion and anxiety, mood, and substance abuse disorders: Isolating the effects of abortion in the national comorbidity survey. Journal of Psychiatric Research, May 2009, v. 43, issue 8, 770-776.
2. Dingle, K, Alati, R, Clavarino, A, Najman, JM, Williams, GM. Pregnancy loss and psychiatric disorders in young women: an Australian birth cohort study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2008: 193, 455-460.
3. Pedersen, W. Abortion and depression: A population-based longitudinal study of young women. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2008; 36: 424-428.
4. Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Boden, JM. Abortion and mental health disorders: evidence from a 30-year longitudinal study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2008; 193: 444-451.