Springfield, IL — Mental health officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designated last month as National Depression Awareness and Education Month. This year the occasion is drawing attention to three recently published studies linking abortion to higher rates of clinical depression and suicide.
The first of the three, published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, examined a national survey of American women whose first pregnancies were unintended. Examining depression scores an average of eight years after the unintended pregnancies, researchers found that women who have abortions are at significantly greater risk of clinical depression than women who carry their unintended pregnancies to term.
The second study, from the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, reveals that after controlling for prior history of mental illness, women who abort subsequently require more mental health treatments than women who deliver. The researchers examined Medi-Cal records for 173,000 low-income California women for four years following their pregnancy outcomes. Abortion was most strongly associated with higher rates of subsequent treatment for neurotic depression, bipolar disorder, adjustment reactions, and schizophrenic disorders.
In the third study, researchers examined death records linked to Medi-Cal payments for births and abortions and discovered that women who had abortions were almost twice as likely to die in the following two years. They also discovered that the higher mortality rate of aborting women persisted over at least eight years. After controlling for prior psychiatric history, abortion was associated with a three times higher risk of death from suicide over the eight years examined. A similar study of all women in Finland found that compared to non-pregnant women and delivering women, women who had abortions were 3.7 and 6.5 times (respectively) more likely to commit suicide within one year.
According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, suicide is the leading cause of violent deaths in the world. David Reardon, Ph.D., director of the Elliot Institute, an organization specializing in research on mental health adjustments following abortion, and one of the principle authors in all three of these studies, believes depression following abortion plays a significant direct or indirect role in many of suicides.
Reardon says that the existing research shows that post-abortion depression can come and go over long periods of time. But at least in regard to suicide,
the greatest risk is in the first year after the abortion. “After the first year, the rate of suicide appears to decline toward more normal levels over a four year period,” he said. “Case studies and self-reports from women indicate that depression may become most intense near the expected due date of the aborted pregnancy and at the anniversary of the abortion.”
Other researchers have found that shame, secrecy, and thought suppression regarding an abortion are all associated with greater post-abortion depression, anxiety, and hostility. Reardon believes that this suggests that the cure for post-abortion depression, at least in part, lies in growing awareness that severe depression after an abortion is not abnormal. “The political controversy over abortion often makes it difficult for women to discuss their emotional reactions to abortion with loved ones,” he said. “This may increase feelings of isolation and exacerbate depression.”
Asked what the practical implications for physicians using abortion history as a marker for risk of depression, Reardon said: “We recommend that physicians should routinely inquire about the outcome of all the patient's pregnancies. The simple question, “Have you experienced any pregnancy losses such as miscarriage, abortion, adoption, or stillbirth?” may be sufficient to give women permission to discuss unresolved issues related to prior pregnancy losses.”
Studies in order mentioned:
Reardon DC, Cougle JR. “Depression and unintended pregnancy in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth: a cohort study.” British Medical Journal. 2002; 24:151-2.
Coleman PK, Reardon DC, Rue VM, Cougle JR. “State-funded abortions vs. deliveries: A comparison of outpatient mental health claims over five years.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2002; 72(1):141-52.
Reardon DC, Ney PG, Scheuren FJ, Cougle JR, Coleman, PK, Strahan T. “Deaths associated with pregnancy outcome: a record linkage study of low income women.” Southern Medical Journal. 2002; 95(8):834-841.
Gissler M., et. al. “Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994 – definition problems and benefits of record linkage.” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecolgica Scandinavica. 1997; 76:651-657.
The World Report on Violence and Health, Edited by Etienne G. Krug, Linda L. Dahlberg, James A. Mercy, Anthony B. Zwi and Rafael Lozano (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2002).
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
