Study Confirms Women Having Abortions Twice as Likely to Need Psychiatric Hospitalization

Posted on by Constitutional Nobody

A new study of over 1.2 million pregnancy outcomes in Quebec, Canada, confirms that psychiatric hospitalization is over twice as likely to occur after induced abortions than after live births (104 versus 42 cases per 10,000 person years). The rates of hospitalization were especially higher for substance abuse disorders and suicide attempts.

The risks associated with abortion remained elevated even after controlling for prior mental health, age, and poverty. But among women with prior mental health issues, psychiatric hospitalization was nine times more likely for those who had abortions. In contrast, among women without prior mental health issues, abortion was linked to only a 50% increased risk of psychiatric hospitalization.

The risk of psychiatric admissions generally declined over time, nearly disappearing after twelve years.  The exception was for substance use disorders, which while declining remained significantly elevated throughout the sixteen years examined by the research team.

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The study also observed that the risk of psychiatric treatment increased with the number of abortions women experienced. This is a “dose effect.”  It means each abortion exposure increased the risk of a mental health disorder requiring hospitalization. Observation of a dose effect is generally considered to be strong evidence of a direct causal pathway between a risk factor (abortion) and a statistically associated outcome (hospitalization for mental health).

Confirmation of Previous Studies

This study confirms the trend in a series of recent record-based studies linking abortion to elevated rates of mental health disorders after controlling for prior mental health.

The End of a Controversy?

The idea that abortion may be linked to mental health problems has long been a subject of controversy. On one hand, nearly every study on the topic has revealed higher rates of mental illness among at least a subset of women who have abortions.

But abortion advocates have long insisted that these statistical associations are incidental, not causally connected. The best and most likely explanation, they claim, is that the subset of all women most likely to need abortions are also more likely to have pre-existing mental illnesses.  If this is true, women with pre-existing mental health problems are simply more likely to continue to have higher rates of mental crises after their abortions.

“This hypothesis no longer holds any water,” says David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and the author of numerous studies in this field.

Speaking of this newest study from Canada, in which he had no connection, Reardon says, “This is the latest in a string of record-based studies that do not suffer from any self-selection or recall bias.  Plus, the authors fully controlled for women’s mental health histories before and after their abortions.  They found that prior mental health problems clearly magnify the risk that abortion will exacerbate the risk of a psychiatric crisis, but there also elevated risks for women with no prior mental health issues.”

But is abortion the sole cause of these higher rates of mental health issues or just a contributing factor?

“That is the only remaining question,” said Reardon. “Surveys show that some women claim their abortions were the direct and sole cause of suicide attempts, or substance abuse, for example.  But most human behavior is affected by multiple factors. So, it is difficult to know when, if ever, abortion may be the sole cause of any mental health problem.

“On the other hand, it is ridiculous to assert that abortion never contributes to mental health issues. We now know that the majority of abortion patients say that their abortions did negatively impact their mental health. To insist that abortion never impacts mental health is, essentially, an assertion that all these women liars.  That is an absurd, ideologically driven fantasy.”

But abortion is always a highly politicized topic. So, neither good science nor common sense may be enough to end the abortion mental health controversy. The debate and denials will are likely to continue.

Online copy: Abortion Strongly Linked to Psychiatric Hospitalization, New Study of 1.2 Million Women

References

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Author: Elliot Institute

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