About half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and 40 percent of these are terminated by abortion. Those ideologically opposed to abortion often argue that the experience is psychologically harmful to women, citing reports of a link between abortion and later mental health problems such as depression. Now, after an exhaustive review of the literature, experts conclude that the best scientific evidence indicates that having a single abortion does not increase a woman’s risk of emotional problems.
In 2006 the American Psychological Association (APA) assembled a task force of researchers with wide-ranging expertise to evaluate all peer-reviewed studies published in English since 1989 (when the last such review was conducted) that compared the mental health of women who had an abortion with that of other women. It is clear that after an abortion some women experience sadness and grief and, in some cases, clinically significant disorders such as depression or anxiety. But the task force concluded in August that “among women who have a single, legal, first-trimester abortion of an unplanned pregnancy for nontherapeutic reasons, the relative risks of mental health problems are no greater than the risks among women who deliver an unplanned pregnancy.” The evidence for the risk associated with multiple abortions is more equivocal.
In its report the APA highlighted the often severe methodological shortcomings that plagued much of the research. “Very rarely does a study include an appropriate comparison group,” laments task force chair Brenda Major, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The only suitable comparison groups include women who carry their unwanted pregnancy to term and either raise the child or give it up for adoption, Major explains, because these are the two main options in addition to abortion that a woman has once she is faced with an unwanted pregnancy.
Many studies did not adequately control for other variables known to be associated with psychological well-being, including poverty, prior exposure to violence, and a history of mental health problems or substance abuse. Failure to parse out the effects of these co-occurring risk factors, the APA explains, can lead to reports of associations between mental health and abortion history that are misleading.
The task force called for more rigorous studies that try to disentangle such confounding factors. “It’s not that we need more research,” Major warns. “We need better research.” Studies should be longitudinal—following women over time—and include larger, more representative samples. Furthermore, authors need to more adequately assess the degree to which a pregnancy is intended or wanted. A woman who terminates a wanted pregnancy because of a fetal abnormality, for example, may suffer more emotionally than someone who aborts because of an unplanned pregnancy.
The reviewers identified several risk factors for women in the U.S. that were predictive of adverse reactions subsequent to abortion, including perceptions of stigma, a need for secrecy, low social support and personality traits such as coping style. The strongest predictor of postabortion mental health is a woman’s preexisting mental health.
Major and her colleagues believe future research should focus on understanding the conditions that contribute to negative emotional responses and on bolstering women’s resilience. Emphasizing the “diversity and complexity of women and their circumstances,” the report cautions that any global statements about the psychological impact of abortion have the potential to be misleading.
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Abortion Risk Reviewed".
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22 Comments
Add CommentOf course many women have problems after abortions! They are murdering their innocent children in a way that would get the doctor arrested if it was being done to a dog!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is instinctive for most woman to feel attached to an unborn child. Just talk to your friends and neighbors who have gone through a miscarriage. They are usually devastated. They have often already started to bond with that child. Now imagine deciding to terminate that child. Unless you can convince yourself that the baby is not "life" there is a good chance that you will feel some guilt.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe are told: Fifty percent of pregnancies are unwanted; and forty percent of unwanted pregnancies end in abortion. We are not told: How many abortions are repeats? I am very curious to know both a) how many women who have/choose one abortion eventually have/choose another, and b) how many women who have/choose an abortion eventualy have/choose several others. Anyone know?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, does having an abortion later than in the first trimester increase the chances for experiencing negative psychological consequences? And what percentage of all abortions occur after the first trimester?
Ah, this article was bound to bring out the ignorant religious trolls.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTheir ignorance about biology would be laughable, if it didn't greatly contribute to the adverse reactions the article sites: "perceptions of stigma, a need for secrecy, low social support." And the most vulnerable and disadvantaged among women, are the most likely to be influenced and affected by this religious drivel.
So, trolls, perhaps in addition to trying to stick you religion into a very PERSONAL decision, you should direct some anger at whatever deity rules your delusional mind: the vast majority of terminated pregnancies are not due to abortion, but to "an act of God," if you will.
Oh! Revolting Ape, you scored! Embrace your hate for religion and anyone that doesn't share your beliefs! Rejoice in the mountains of dead babies that people like you ghoulishly revel in!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRoger, during prenatal development, these are called embryos or fetuses, not "babies."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut if you can't grasp the distinction, and feel so strongly about the subject, then by all means, don't have an abortion!
As I noted earlier, most abortions are spontaneous. If this troubles you, take it up with your made-up deity.
Actually, Revolting Ape, people tried to get my mom, who was 16 at the time, to abort me. So, I feel I can have a problem with people who support that murder and I do believe that just because they are in a woman's stomach, they are still human beings, still babies. Many babies have been born when they were younger than many of those who have been late term aborted.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, there's a difference between accidents, disease and other causes of death and someone making a choice to kill someone. A miscarriage isn't any different than dying of disease or being hit by a car. Abortion is no different than murder.
It has nothing to do with religion or science. People like you are supporters of murder, plain and simple and whether it's God or Karma, people like you will get what you deserve for pushing for the murder of millions of innocents!
Actually, Roger, if you were aborted, you would never have been self-aware enough to know it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you father had engaged in masturbation, instead of intercourse with your mother, or if that particular sperm had never penetrated the zona pellucida of your mother's egg, you would never have been, and again, would never have known it. In fact, countless of your potential "siblings" never made it, but it's irrelevant, because they never knew it.
And so on..., the fact that YOU were ever conceived or born is a fluke. Deal with it.
Tnat's the difference between negative, hateful people like you and the rest of us who see life as sacred, beautiful and a gift.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou're like the orcs in Lord of the Rings, looking to spread filth, hate and ugliness across the land. Maybe it's your deep self-loathing that makes you want to bring everyone and everything else down, but that's no excuse.
Roger, calm down and don't foam up on subjects you are ill-equipped to understand.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs I said, if you get pregnant, you don't have to have an abortion. But stop harassing those who make a different choice.
If the choice is murder, then calling it "choice" or any other name doesn't change the fact that it's murder.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo you think it's ok to punish EVERYONE for something your mother ALMOST did? Dude, u need medication or at least a 'morals' counsular. Don't blame this one on GOD, 'cause it's clear this is nothing more than the cruel acts of vegeance. Abortions are GOD'S will. I wonder why he saved YOU.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually they DO give dogs and cats abortions also. You sound like a mysogynist to me. You're not using free speech rights when you talk like this in fact it is hate speech against a minority group, women and where I come from is fully prosecutable by law. If I were you, I'd cool it before you piss one of us off.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've met a lot of people that SHOULD have been aborted. Abortions are GOD'S will and after meeting the ones that should have been aborted, I'm glad GOD prevented those who were even WORSE from being born.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisZenaV! LOL! I love it! I always say leftist freaks use the term hate speech as a way to try to silence the freedom of speech of people they disagree with and you are proof of that! It's quite fascist of you!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbortions are not God's will, but rather the will of FemiNazis like you who think that the blood of innocent babies will make you more powerful- it's actually part of a matriarchal pagan religion that modern feminists have developed, where they revel in their power to slaughter millions of babies.
Of course, you murderers will burn for eternity for this, so you better enjoy your life on Earth because your afterlife will be to experience being aborted, over and over infinitely!
why do you care that people are going to hell ? Its ultimately down to women if they want to or not though its not to your liking. Not you or anyone else. If those said babies cannot survive out side the bodies they cannot be deemed as a being .Saying some one is going to hell is getting ahead of yourself no matter what your religion is you are not a deity and really need to keep that in mind . What you are saying is coming of crass as you perceive the other commenter's words to be. There is not a religion that i know of that approves of being judgmental as you are.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's not being judgemental, just factual. Those who choose to abort are murderers. They can claim that it's not life, just lumps of flesh, but just because they choose to define those babies as not human beings, doesn't mean they aren't.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the vast majority of abortions it's all about men and women who want the freedom to have unprotected sex outside of marriage, with lots of different people and not have to deal with any consequences of their actions. So, murdering babies is the way they make sure they can keep having their fun. "Pro-choice" is no different than the Nazis that sent millions to the concentration camps.
(Posted on another thread but as much or more relevant here);
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"A point to consider on 'viability'."
"The womb IS the natural environment of a fetus. Whatever/whomever one holds has determined it to be that way and however you view the relationship to the host/mother."
"In life, we are all dependent on our natural environment. An astronaut does not cease to be a viable life-form when he dons a spacesuit and envelopes himself in a bubble of his bare-minimum natural environment. Or, does he? Or, are we not cosmically 'viable' until we can/do leave our planetary womb,,, sans environment?"
ZenaV-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow is it that you(females) ARE a "minorty",,, in what realtion to this issue do you unfurl that banner, and feel empowered by protections against "hate speech"?
In biological issues, it seems to me that in pure human gender diversity, males and females tend to stay roughly equal. In that hand, however, you are Queen-high and decidedly in the majority where both baby-making and breaking are concerned. Men have become the 'voiceless' and 'choiceless' minority, here.
"Men have become the 'voiceless' and 'choiceless' minority, here."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a man I seem to have no legal say whether the child goes to term or not. It's all about "women's right to choose". What about my choice to have a child or not?
That being said, I'm not against abortion, just feel the father should get some say about keeping the child. He shouldn't be allowed to force a women to get the abortion, but should get a say in it being kept.
That being said, if the church (pick one) allowed for contraception and sex education, maybe we wouldn't have so many unwanted pregnancies, and this would not be as much of an issue.
Oh, and people need to Chill Out, on these religion issues. Stop attacking each other like rabid raccoons.
Perhaps a word or two from those directly affected by abortion;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this....................(crickets chirp).......................
Oh, thats right,,, theyre D-E-A-D.
Seriously though, I think the spay and neuter programs for cats & dogs would be a good model for those that simply want to go out and,,, well,,, act like cats & dogs. Won't solve all this problems, but will surely decrease it.
Generally I am pro-choice on just about any issue.
The difference here being the long train of real and well understood free Choices someone has, and makes, before pregnany can even occur. Plenty of opportunities to change one's mind or take precautions before it becomes a life or death decision towards another potential human being.
I am not for Choice without the consequenses OF those Choices. Thats not Freedom, its purile foolishness and irresponsibility.
LOL! I agree with you completely EB! I definitely think that anyone that isn't stable enough and responsible should just be sterilized! Abortions would become very rare, abused children would become even more rare, the breeding grounds of criminals would shrink.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThen I think we should put something in the water of the countries that are dirt poor but have massive birth rates, thus bringing their populations under control too, which would end much of the suffering in those places, reduce wars, ethnic cleansing, etc.
From conflict to pollution and environmental destruct, abortion to crime, having stupid and immoral people, or hordes of Third World people breeding is what leads to 99% of the problems in the world!
Of course, taking care of that problem- the source- would never be allowed, so we're stuck dealing with the symptoms and at the rate the world population continues to expand, there's got to be a point where things get so bad that civilization collapses under the weight of it all. So, we can just sit back and watch, because no one will do what really is needed.