This is Life!: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis

Who's Right? (Your Answer Will Tell You What Your Presuppositions Are)

From Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion advocacy group in the U. S. comes this statement:

Research studies indicate that emotional responses to legally induced abortion are largely positive. They also indicate that emotional problems resulting from abortion are rare and less frequent than those following childbirth (Adler, 1989).

Anti-family planning extremists, however, circulate unfounded claims that a majority of the 29 percent of pregnant American women who choose to terminate their pregnancies (Henshaw & Van Vort, 1990) suffer severe and long-lasting emotional trauma as a result. They call this nonexistent phenomenon "post-abortion trauma" or "post-abortion syndrome." They hope that terms like these will gain wide currency and credibility despite the fact that neither the American Psychological Association nor the American Psychiatric Association recognizes the existence of these phenomena.

The truth is that most studies in the last 20 years have found abortion to be a relatively benign procedure in terms of emotional effect - except when pre-abortion emotional problems exist or when a wanted pregnancy is terminated, such as after diagnostic genetic testing (Adler, 1989; Adler et al., 1990; Russo & Denious, 2001). The many studies of the emotional effects of abortion, however, do not measure precisely the same variables in regard to culture, time, demographics, or the socioeconomic and psychological situation of women who seek abortion. Since the results of these studies cannot be combined or "averaged out," the following data illustrate, in general, the conclusions of the overwhelming majority of more than 35 of the worldwide studies that have measured the emotional effects of abortion since its legalization in the U.S. in 1973.

In 1989, a panel of experts assembled by the American Psychological Association concluded unanimously that legal abortion "does not create psychological hazards for most women undergoing the procedure." The panel noted that, since approximately 21 percent of all U.S. women have had an abortion, if severe emotional reactions were common there would be an epidemic of women seeking psychological treatment. There is no evidence of such an epidemic (Adler, 1989). Since 1989, there has been no significant change in this point of view.

In the face of that last claim, it would be important, then to actually see if it holds up. From the Project Rachel site, a pro-life Catholic organization comes this statement (note: bracketed footnote numbers have been replaced by the sources cited and comments in the footnote itself for ease of reference and to mirror the references given in the Planned Parenthood statement above):

In the words of the editor of the Journal of Social Issues, Gregory Wilmoth: "There is now virtually no disagreement among researchers that some women experience negative psychological reactions post-abortion. Instead the disagreement concerns the following: (1) the prevalence of women who have these experiences..., (2) the severity of these negative reactions..., (3) the definition of what severity of negative reactions constitutes a public health or mental health problem ..., [and] (4) the classification of severe reactions...."["Abortion, Public Health Policy, and Informed Consent Legislation," Journal of Social Issues, 1992; 48 (3): 1-17.]

A summary of the more significant and apparently uncontested findings:

3a. Grief after pregnancy loss: The medical community is coming to accept more generally that grief is a natural and expected reaction to the loss of a child through abortion, prematurity, stillbirth, etc. Hospital obstetrical units are developing teams of doctors, nurses and social workers to help parents deal with the issues of grief, anger and guilt raised by perinatal deaths.[Wathan, "Perinatal bereavement," British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1990; 97: 759-60. Michels, et al., eds. Psychiatry, vol. 1, Ch. 41, Philadelphia: B. Lippincott Co., 1990:8.]

3b. There is no single study examining all possible negative consequences for women, and the risk of each, from abortion. There are, however, a significant number of studies which show a substantial number of women, suffering moderate to severe negative psychological reactions, of a wide variety, as a consequence of their abortions. These are cited below. [i. e., in item six on the page linked above]

3c. Increased Usage of Psychiatry: A Canadian study found that 25% of women who had had abortions made visits to psychiatrists over a 5 year period, as compared to 3% of the control group.[Badgley, et.al., Report of the Committee on the Operation of the Abortion Law, Ottawa: Supply and Services, 1977: 313-21.]

In a widely respected Danish "register linkage" study -- i.e. one reviewing state records of women's lifetime medical histories -- researchers found that the rate of psychiatric admissions within three months after the end of a pregnancy was 53% higher among women who had aborted compared to women who delivered their children.[David, et al., "Postpartum and Postabortion Psychotic Reactions," Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 13, no. 2, 1981: 88-91, 89.]

3d. Suicide: In one of the most complete register linkage studies to date, researchers in Finland examined women's lifetime medical histories and discovered that women who had abortions had a rate of suicide in the year following their abortion three times greater than all women of reproductive age, and six times greater than women who gave birth. The researchers drew two possible conclusions: either abortion poses a risk to mental health, or there are common risk factors for both abortion and suicide.[Gissler, Hemminki, Lonnqvist, "Suicides after Pregnancy in Finland, 1987-94; Register Linkage Study," British Medical Journal, 1996; 313: 1431-34.]

A Welsh study which followed the Finnish study indicated that the former explanation is more likely. It looked at the medical records of women both before and after their abortions. It did not find any increased risk of suicide before abortion among women having abortions. But it did find that the rate of suicide among women after having induced abortions was twice the rate of women giving birth.[Morgan, et al., Letters, British Medical Journal, 1997; 314: 903. Another study that would indicate for the former explanation was published by L.G. Peppers, "Grief and Elective Abortion: Implications for the Counselor,"in Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrow, ed. Kenneth J. Doka, Lexington Books: MA, 1989:135 (Grief measurements of the same women pre- and post-abortion showed that significantly different groups of women suffered high grief reaction scores at the two points in time.)]

3e. Research Generally Dismissing Negative Abortion Aftermath: Even researchers most reluctant to conclude the existence of any significant amount of post-abortion grief, write that some women experience severe psychological reactions following abortions. They seem satisfied that the percentages of women suffering negative reactions are, by their account, less than 50%. Considering that about 1.5 million abortions annually have been performed for more than 20 years, however, a finding that even a few percentage points of women suffer severe post-abortion reactions represents tens of thousands of women.[One researcher, cited regularly by supporters of legal abortion as determining conclusively the absence of significant post-abortion grief, found the following: two years post-abortion, 19% percent of women (this would translate annually to 260,000 women in the United States) reported that they would not do it again; 12% more were undecided. When asked if their decision was right or wrong two years later, 16% (208,000) said it was the "wrong" decision. This same researcher found that 1% (10,000 women per year) suffer symptoms meeting the clinical definition of post traumatic stress syndrome. Brenda Major, Ph.D. "Beyond Choice: Myths and Facts about Adjustment to Abortion," Oct 9, 1997 California Wellness Foundation Lecture, University of California Wellness Lecture Series:1-34.]