Abortion does not harm women’s mental health: study

Women who get abortions turn out to be pretty OK, actually.

Researchers at University of California, San Francisco who studied women who sought abortions discovered that those who received them had no greater risk of mental health issues than those who were denied them.

Published in the journal “JAMA Psychiatry,” the researchers studied 956 women across 21 states over five years to determine the mental health effects of receiving an abortion.

Of the 956 women, 231 were turned away because they’d passed the “gestational limit.” The study notes that women who were denied abortions reported more anxiety and lower self-esteem 8 days after seeking the abortion.

“These initial elevated levels of distress,” the study reads, “experienced by both turnaway groups may be a response to being denied an abortion, as well as other social and emotional challenges faced on discovery of unwanted pregnancy and abortion seeking.”

The levels of depression for these women, however, were consistent with that of women who received abortions. After six months, the anxiety, self-esteem and depression symptoms had eased or remained steady.

Many states use the threat of adverse psychological effects as a part of their pre-abortion counseling sessions.

“By understanding that each woman’s experience is unique,” says the study, “and that women will vary in their responses to having an abortion or being denied an abortion, we can better serve women’s individual needs.”