The Hidden Mental Toll
It is widely recognized, but rarely mentioned, that post abortive women have high levels of mental health issues. These higher rates have been well documented in dozens of published studies. Unfortunately, several have methodologic issues that allow the pro-abortion advocates to rationalize them away.
A new study by James Studnicki and colleagues puts to rest many of these issues. It shows, once again, there are serious long-term consequences for women who have an abortion. Using a large sample of young women in the US they posed the simple question. They asked whether an abortion or a live birth is associated with increased utilization of mental health services.
The Study
The study followed women enrolled in state Medicaid programs from the time they were 16 years old for an average of 17 years follow-up. By starting to track the women from the time they turned 16, they could track mental health services both before and after the event. Utilization of mental health outpatient services, mental health hospital admissions, and days of hospital stay were captured and compared between the birth moms (n=3517) and abortion moms (n=1331).
What they found was consistent with what has been reported earlier. Women who have an abortion were much more likely to use outpatient mental health services. They needed inpatient mental health services and stayed in hospital significantly longer than women who gave birth. A common push back from the pro-abortion groups is these women already had higher levels of these issues before the abortion. In fact, the study showed something else. The women who gave birth had higher levels of mental health issues before pregnancy than those who aborted their child.
One of the more striking findings was the length of hospital stay for those women who needed hospitalization for a mental health issue. Women who had an abortion had an average of 17 days in hospital for mental health before. This nearly doubled to 32 days after the abortion. In contrast, the women who gave birth and had a mental health related hospital stay averaged 19 days before and 17 days after giving birth.
Clear Demonstration
While this study did not examine specific diagnoses, it does clearly demonstrate that abortion has serious negative effects on the mental well-being of women who experience them. Furthermore, it underscores the added burden abortion is on health care systems long after the procedure is completed.
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Written by Mike Manhart, PhD. Mike is CCL Board Chair and Scientific Director. Family Foundations magazine is a quarterly benefit to our benefactors and supporters.