New Review Links Abortion and Mental Health Problems

8/8/2013

A new review of abortion and mental health complications has been published in Italy:

A new metastudy performed by researchers at the University of Siena seems to show a clear link between abortion and subsequent mental illnesses like depression, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leading the study’s authors to call for additional research dedicated to the issue.

Dr. Carlo V. Bellini and Guiseppe Buonocore analyzed 30 studies of post-abortive women published between 1995 and 2011 to find out whether the data supported a link between abortion and mental illness, especially depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD and substance abuse.

They found that in 13 studies, abortion was found to be a greater risk factor than childbirth for developing at least one of those disorders, while only one study found childbirth to be more likely to lead to later mental problems.  An additional five studies showed no difference in outcome, but among those five studies, at least one included among its post-abortion statistics women who had chosen selective reduction of multiples and whose desired remaining babies survived.

The study also compared post-abortive women to women who had experienced miscarriages, and found that while “short-term anxiety and depression were higher in the miscarriage group … long-term anxiety and depression were present only in the abortion group.”

Read the rest here.

Learn More:
Abortion Has No Benefits, But Does Have Risks, New Research Shows
New Study Reignites Controversy Over Abortion and Mental Health
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