Understanding the Statistics
Abortion as a Personal and Social Crisis
Print | Discuss Online

Working at a program that assists those coping with unplanned pregnancy, there is one reason for abortion often quoted to me by pregnant young women: "I don't want to become a statistic."

This is an understandable reaction for the ambitious teen or young adult hoping to finish school or a find a job. For many young women, the importance of personal success is a message conveyed at home, where well-meaning parents insist that pregnancy outside of a financially stable lifestyle will be the end of all their daughter's hopes and dreams.

Certainly, there are many statistics highlighting the detrimental effect of early pregnancy on women who do not have the emotional or monetary support to cope with the challenges of childrearing. But intentionally or unintentionally, the focus on these statistics among families and communities is encouraging young women to view abortion as the only solution to avoid "becoming a statistic." Perhaps it is time to examine that claim. Is it true that abortion prevents women from becoming statistics? Is it possible that the focus on abortion as a solution has generated some other statistics - statistics that link abortion to unhealthy lifestyles and societal crises?

In this article we will briefly examine the statistics on women and abortion, noting how the abortion experience can contribute to personal crises among women and families as well as the recognized social crises of our communities.

Depression

Reports of the rising rates of depression in the United States are everywhere, and research states that today depression afflicts one out of every eight people. An individual's vulnerability to depression can include such factors genetic predisposition, personal stress levels, and exposure to traumatic life experiences. Women are two to three times more likely than men to suffer from depression, and recent research shows that women's distinct hormonal and neurochemical structures may provide insight as to why women are so much more susceptible to depression than men.1 As stress and fluctuating hormone levels can be particular triggers for depression, research on the links between depression and abortion seem timely.

With few exceptions, the effect of abortion on the mental health of women has been largely ignored. While some headway has been made in this area through ministries like Project Rachel (a post-abortion recovery initiative of the Catholic Church), the prevailing mentality regarding post-abortion stress is that only happens only to "some" women, and usually it is those "who had problems before." It is rarely acceptable for a woman to express regret about her abortion, or to identify persons in her life who coerced her decision. However, recent statistics report that post- abortion difficulties are not restricted to a few psychologically disturbed women, but constitute an entire population of women (and men) who have retained deep wounds from their experience of or participation in an abortion.

In a 2003 analysis of a federally-funded longitudinal study of American women, it was found that women who aborted were 65% more likely to be at risk of long-term clinical depression after controlling for age, race, education, marital status, history of divorce, income, and prior psychiatric state.2 A 2004 study comparing American and Russian women who had experienced abortion, 65% of American women studied experienced multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that they attributed to their abortions.3 A New Zealand study revealed that 42% of women with a history of abortion had experienced major depression in the last four years (nearly double the rate of women who had not been pregnant and 35% higher than those who carried to term).4 In another American study, researchers compared women with no prior history of anxiety and who had also experienced a first, unintended pregnancy. Women who aborted were 30% more likely to subsequently report all the symptoms associated with a diagnosis for generalized anxiety disorder, compared with women who carried to term.5 An analysis of California medical records showed that women who have abortions subsequently require significantly more outpatient care for psychiatric illness.6 These numbers reflect a growing mental health crisis among those involved in abortion, a crisis that is receiving little to no attention from the media, despite public recognition of rising rates of depression.

Suicide

Closely tied to issues of depression is the phenomena of suicide, in which depression, social isolation, and feelings of hopelessness can drive individuals to desperate acts of self-harm. Suicide attempts are three times higher among females than males, and are the eleventh leading cause of death nationally, 86 per day occurring in the United States.7 To date, the majority of new research examining the links between suicide and abortion rates has been done outside the U.S.

Researchers examining deaths among the entire population of women in Finland found that those who aborted were six times more likely to die by suicide than those who had given birth, and two times higher than women who had miscarried.8 In New Zealand, another study reported that women who had abortions experienced higher rates of suicidal behavior, even after controlling for pre-existing conditions. 9 American studies have shown that women with a history of abortion also have significantly higher death rates from homicide and accidents, and a 62 % higher risk of death from all causes.10 The numbers are even more startling among teenagers, who are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last six months as compared to those who have not.11 These alarming figures should spur research - particularly in the United States - into the significant link between the social crisis of suicide and the personal experience of abortion.

Implications for Subsequent Children and the Family Unit

There is much talk today about the impact of family stability on the lives and well-being of children. Factors that can influence family stability may include the strength or weakness of the marital bond, the presence or absence of good parenting skills, and the use or abuse of illegal drugs or other addictive substances. New research shows that these indicators of family stability or instability are also connected to the abortion experience. A 2002 study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that children of women who have had abortions have less supportive home environments and more behavioral problems than children of women without a history of abortion. They state that this finding supports the view that abortion may negatively affect bonding with subsequent children, disturb mothering skills, and otherwise impact a woman's psychological stability.12 The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse reports that women who abort are five times more likely to report subsequent drug or alcohol abuse than women who deliver13 , and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that women with a history of abortion are five times more likely to use drugs and two times more likely to use alcohol during their pregnancy, as compared to those women who delivered their first pregnancy.14 A recent study from the British Journal of Health Psychology found similar results.15 It seems no stretch to say that the psychological health of the mother has a significant impact on the health of the entire family unit.

Conclusion

The studies here relate only a small portion of the statistics available on the impact of abortion on women and families. In addition to issues of depression, suicide, substance abuse, and family upheaval, recent research also shows links between abortion and sexual promiscuity, chronic relationship instability, divorce, and poverty.16 Studies consistently illustrate that when our mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and wives suffer, we all suffer. The impact is felt on children, on partners, at workplaces and on campuses. Hiding the abortion question behind mantras of "choice" and "rights" obscures the true impact of abortion on women and their families. It is time we bring to the public debate what the research indicates: having an abortion can make our young women the statistics they so fear becoming, potentially causing permanent damage to their mental health, family strength, and future happiness. Offering women the "choice" of abortion does not address the real needs of emotional, educational, and financial support necessary to promoting healthy lifestyles and strong families. Dispelling the discouraging statistics that can surround early or unexpected motherhood is a vital task that will require patience, compassion, and access to resources. Abortion provides none of these, and research indicates it may be adding to the social crises that can make women today "just another number."

Footnotes

1. National Institute of Mental Health, 2005
2. Medical Science Monitor, 2003
3. Medical Science Monitor, 2004
4. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 2006
5. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2005
6. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2002
7. American Association of Suicidology, 2003
8. European Journal of Public Health, 2005
9. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 2004
10. Southern Medical Journal, 2002
11. Responding to High Risk Youth, 1986
12. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2002
13. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2004
14. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dec. 2002
15. British Journal of Health Psychology, 2005
16. The Elliot Institute, 2006