Post-Abortion Mental Health Outcomes

Abortion, while always a polarizing topic, has recently had even more light shed on it because of new laws and changes that may make it harder for women to access safe abortions. The roots of some of these laws may come from the assumption that women often have unfavorable mental health outcomes from abortion. The science is still out on that statement, however, 33 states still require that women have a consult before performing an abortion (Guttmacher Institute, 2022). These consults often act as a vector to dissuade women from having an abortion in many regions by, oftentimes, providing one-sided information (Vandewalker, 2012). As a result, many studies have looked into the actual mental health outcomes of patients who choose to have an abortion.

Biggs et al. (2017) wanted to evaluate the long-term psychological well-being of women who were either able to receive an abortion or were denied one. Participants came from a wide geographic area of the US and once enrolled in the study were split into several major analysis groups. The first group consisted of women who had an abortion within the 2 weeks of the limit outlined by their center’s criteria (near-limit group). The second group was women who were 3 weeks past their center’s criteria for an abortion and thus were denied one (turnaway group). The third group consisted of women who completed an abortion within their first trimester (first-trimester group). After separating the participants in groups, the researchers completed phone interviews with them 8 days after visiting the abortion center and then every 6 months thereafter for the next 5 years. During these phone calls, researchers were gathering information on variables such as depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.

The results of the study correlated with previous studies that reject the idea that abortion increases the risk of unfavorable psychological consequences. The results on depression found no significant differences between groups, with depressive signs and symptoms progressively decreasing as time passed. However, women in the turnaway group were found to have higher levels of anxiety a week after being refused an abortion than those in the near-limit group, but this declined over time. Another interesting result was that women who were turned away from abortion at their initial clinic site and later either miscarried or had an abortion somewhere else exhibited the highest levels of anxiety and lowest self-esteem 1 week after first being denied an abortion. However, these symptoms improved quickly and were similar to other groups after a year.

Overall, this research adds to the growing body of evidence that abortion does not cause adverse psychological outcomes in patients. The study showed that psychological symptoms like depression and anxiety did not seem to change between women who had an abortion versus those women who saw the pregnancy to full term. In fact, the results showed that the most adverse psychological outcomes presented in women who were turned away from their first abortion. Increased availability of accurate information on abortion, as well as increased access to pregnancy tests may be useful in preventing these adverse effects. Additionally, advocacy for state abortion laws to follow recent trends in science and change to allow women to have abortions at a later stage of pregnancy may also help this issue.

References:

Biggs, M. A., Upadhyay, U. D., McCulloch, C. E., & Foster, D. G. (2017). Women’s mental health and well-being 5 years after receiving or being denied an abortion: A prospective, longitudinal cohort study. JAMA psychiatry, 74(2), 169-178.

Guttmacher Institute. (2022, May 3). Counseling and waiting periods for abortion. Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/counseling-and-waiting-periods-abortion

Vanderwalker, I. (2012). Abortion and informed consent: how biased counseling laws mandate violations of medical ethics. Mich. J. Gender & L., 19, 1.