Multiple studies reveal the risk and reality of post-abortion depression, contradicting and debunking the false claims of Robin Stevenson's book for teens, "My Body, My Choice: The Fight For Abortion Rights."
Live Action, an international organization advocating protection for the unborn, contradicted Stevenson who wrote that "choosing an abortion does not lead to a higher risk of depression than choosing to continue an unplanned pregnancy" in his highly-acclaimed book.
The pro-life organization said Stevenson's statement is simply "misinformation" and cited several studies including those published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JP&S).
The study, "Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995-2009," which is published in BJPsych, reveals that 81% of women who undergo an abortion experience an increased risk of psychiatric issues which included depression.
"Over the past several decades, hundreds of studies have been published indicating statistically significant associations between induced abortion and adverse psychological outcomes of various forms. However, the authors of the three most recent qualitative literature reviews arrived at the conclusion that abortion does not pose serious risks above those associated with unintended pregnancy carried to term. This conclusion is problematic for several reasons," the study said.
The study, said to offer "the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world literature," concluded that various psychological disorders result from abortion. Some of the reasons for such greater risk abortion brings to women is said to be due to the questionable classification of pregnancies as wanted or unwanted and the lack of control groups.
"The composite results reported herein indicate that abortion is a statistically validated risk factor for the development of various psychological disorders," the study underscored.
Meanwhile, a study in 2017 entitled, "Women Who Suffered Emotionally from Abortion: A Qualitative Synthesis of Their Experiences," which is published in the JP&S, showed 67.5% of women sought professional help for mental health after having an abortion while 13% sought help before it.
The two research papers echoed a 2016 study by Dr. Donald Sullins from The Catholic University of America Ruth Institute, "Abortion, Substance Abuse and Mental Health in Early Adulthood: Thirteen-Year Longitudinal Evidence from the United States." Sullins based his analysis from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent to Adult Health panel data on 8,005 women whose average ages ranged from 15 to 28 years. The goal was to measure pregnancy outcomes and Sullins concluded that abortion does result to mental illnesses.
"Evidence from the United States confirms previous findings from Norway and New Zealand that, unlike other pregnancy outcomes, abortion is consistently associated with a moderate increase in risk of mental health disorders during late adolescence and early adulthood," Sullins said.
The British Journal of Medicine also raised that suicide rates are six to seven times higher in women who undergo abortion based on a study conducted in Finland from 1987 to 1994. The "Teen Abortion Risks" Fact Sheet highlighted that suicide among teens due to abortion are indeed higher than those of their adult counterparts.
"Higher suicide risks for teens. Teen girls are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last six months than girls who have not had an abortion, and 2-4 times more likely to commit suicide after abortion compared to adult women," the Fact Sheet stressed.
