Numerous studies have studied the possible after-effects that induced abortion can cause in women who suffer from it. These after-effects should not be considered a syndrome, since the term “syndrome” is used to describe a set of signs and symptoms that, when occurring together, indicate the existence of a specific disease or disorder. In the case of abortion , the different after-effects do not appear together in all cases, so it is incorrect to refer to them as a syndrome.
Although some of them claim not to find a clear correlation between an increase in psychiatric disorders or addictive behaviors in women who have had an abortion voluntarily compared to those who have given birth, they do find evidence of an increase in the related consequences in women who have had two or more abortions (Gómez & Zapata, 2005) (Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA), 2008) (Pedersen, 2008) (Taft & Watson, 2008) (Steinberg & Russo, 2008) (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2011) (Munk-Olsen, Laursen, Pedersen, & al, 2011).
Aznar et al. state that all the studies reviewed may contain methodological biases, including the possible existence of heterogeneous sample groups, the lack of long-term follow-up of the women studied in some trials, an inadequate assessment of the women’s medical history, especially with regard to their reproductive circumstances and mental health, the different context in which the abortion was performed, possible biases in the interpretation of the data, especially conditioned by the ideological characteristics of the people or institutions that carried out the study, the feeling of guilt that the woman may have for having had an abortion, which may be an important, if not decisive, factor in her suffering psychological disorders after the abortion. ( Aznar & Cerdá, Abortion and Women’s Mental Health, 2014 ).
However, other studies, using larger samples and longer follow-ups, do establish a cause-and-effect relationship between abortions and the development of various health problems in women who have had them.
Notable among these is the work of Fergusson et al., which included a cohort of 534 women with 1,265 children born in Christchurch, an urban region of New Zealand, who were followed from birth until they reached the age of 30 (Fergusson, Horwood, & Boden, 2008).
The authors reach the following conclusions:
- Induced abortions are associated with an increase in mental problems between 1.86 and 7.08 times higher than in women who have not had an abortion;
- Miscarriages are also associated with a modest but evident increase in mental health problems, an increase that could be estimated to be between 1.76 and 3.30 times higher;
- Births following an unwanted pregnancy or adverse reactions during pregnancy are associated with a small increased risk of mental problems, except for alcoholism;
- The association between mental problems after a normal pregnancy is weak and inconsistent;
- In women who have had an abortion, the risk of having mental health problems increases by 30% compared to those who have not had one,
- Mental health disorders attributable to abortion represent between 1.5% and 5.5% of all mental disorders in women.
Another work, a review by Coleman, evaluates all articles published in English between 1995 and 2009, selecting 22 articles for final consideration: 15 from the United States and 7 from other countries. (Coleman, Abortion and Mental Health: Quantitative Synthesis and Analysis of Research Published 1995-2009, 2011)
It includes a total of 877,181 women, divided into three groups: a) one of healthy, non-pregnant women; b) another of healthy, pregnant women who have given birth to a normal live birth; and c) a third group that includes 163,831 women who have had an abortion.
The authors reach the following conclusions:
- Women who have had an abortion are 81% more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those who have not.
- The likelihood of suffering from anxiety problems is 34% higher in them.
- The chance of suffering from depression is 37% higher.
- 110% more likely to fall into alcoholism.
- 220% greater likelihood of using marijuana.
- Ten percent of women with a mental health disorder have had an abortion before the onset of clinical symptoms.
A team led by the same author published another study in 2017 that included 987 American women who completed a psychological survey after undergoing an abortion. (Coleman, Boswell, Etzkorn, & Turnwald, 2017).
The following question was posed: “What are the most significant negative aspects, if any, that come from your decision to have an abortion?”
The following conclusions are worth highlighting:
- 23.7% of respondents acknowledged that abortion had ended a human life.
- 14.4% Depression.
- 14% Guilt/remorse.
- 12.4% self-hatred / anger at self / self-loathing / feelings of worthlessness.
- 10.9% shame.
- 9% addiction, alcohol or drug abuse including alcoholism.
- 9.3% regret.
- 7.7% Self-destructive behaviors including promiscuity, self-punishment.
- 7.6% low self-esteem.
- 7.1% Anxiety/fear.
- 6.2% suicidal thoughts / suicidal thoughts / wanting to die / self-harm / dangerous risks / suicide attempts.
However, not all of them were negative effects, such as:
- 17.5% said they had experienced spiritual growth.
- 13.3% had been involved in voluntary work related to the fight against abortion.
- 6.4% had become pro-life activists.
- 7.5% had converted to Christianity.
Another paper, published in the “European Journal of Public Health” in 2017, states that continuing pregnancy in adolescents is a protective factor that reduces the risk of suicide by 50% and death from other causes by 40%, stating that “the group that continued their pregnancy until delivery showed lower risks of suicide (adjusted MRR 0.5, [95% CI: 0.3-0.9]) and death from injuries and poisoning (adjusted MRR 0.6, [95% CI: 0.4-0.8]) compared to women who had undergone an abortion.” (Jalanko, Leppälahti, Heikinheimo, & Gissler, 2017).
Other studies have examined the possible relationship between pregnancy history, miscarriage history, and induced abortion history and the risk of certain disorders, as well as mortality rates in certain populations of women.
A statistically robust systematic review has attempted to bring together these studies in order to draw representative conclusions about the incidence of abortions, both spontaneous (“miscarriage”) and induced (“terminations of pregnancy” (TOP)), on the frequency of certain health problems and subsequent mortality rates in women who have experienced a pregnancy, as well as the possible relationship between the number of unterminated pregnancies and the increase in these risks in the same woman. (Reardon & Thorp, 2017).
The study selected a total of 68 studies that linked the rate of pregnancies ending in birth and those ending in abortion with the prevalence of disorders and mortality in affected women.
From the analysis of the data presented in the various selected studies, the authors conclude that a correlation can be established between abortions, both spontaneous and induced, and an increased risk of death or the development of certain disorders in the women studied. Furthermore, this risk appears to be dose-dependent, being significantly higher in women who have had two or more miscarriages in previous pregnancies.
The risk of death during pregnancy and in the year following the abortion is compared with that of women who have given birth to a live birth. For women who have suffered an induced abortion (ICA), this risk is 170% higher than for women who have given birth to a live birth. The risk is 84% higher than for full-term births in the case of spontaneous abortions. In other words, the loss of a child after an induced abortion carries twice the risk of death in the year following the abortion compared to a spontaneous abortion.
The comparison of the groups who have suffered abortions, whether spontaneous or induced, with that of women who have given birth to live births is also revealing. This meta-analysis shows that the mortality rate of women who have suffered an abortion, whether spontaneous or induced, is more than double that of those who have had a live birth. Once again, the risk for women who suffer an induced abortion is significantly higher than that of the group who have suffered spontaneous abortions.
Some of the causes of death among these women are suicide, accidents, or homicide. There is a correlation between abortion and an increase in self-destructive behavior, which may be behind the aforementioned causes of death. A study from the United Kingdom revealed that a high percentage of related accidental deaths were due to drug overdoses.
A revealing result of this meta-analysis is the “protective” effect that full-term pregnancies appear to have on the risk of death, which is lower in women who have given birth than in those who have not.
Regarding the possibility of a relationship between the number of abortions per woman and her subsequent mortality rate, this study shows the following:
The mortality rate ratio for women who have had three or more induced abortions is 2.92 compared to the reference group of women who have had none. For two abortions, it is 2.14, and for a single abortion, it is 1.45. These figures are higher than those for the group of women who have suffered spontaneous abortions, which are 2.51, 1.87, and 1.44, respectively.
For women who have given birth to live children, the risk is lower than for those who have not become pregnant, with ratios of 0.69 for mothers of three or more children and 0.54 for those of two. There is no statistically significant data for mothers of only one child.
The authors highlight the difficulty in finding studies linking the risk of subsequent mortality to abortion, stating that efforts to legalize and expand abortion practices may be hindering the research and publication of studies attempting to establish this relationship.
Finally, women who are coerced into having an abortion are at greater risk of serious complications, including self-destructive tendencies. Suicide rates, which are lower among women who have given birth, are particularly high among those who have suffered induced abortions, as this review shows.
Finally, a study published in 2019 in the journal Front Neuroscience objectively evaluated the biological, physiological, and behavioral consequences of drug-induced pregnancy termination in an animal model: female Long-Evans rats.
According to the authors, this study is the first to address the potential biological, behavioral, and biochemical effects associated with pregnancy termination in an animal model. Furthermore, the findings of this study appear to support the current literature on the benefits of carrying a pregnancy to term.
They also affirm the validity of this model as an objective method for investigating the possible physical (biological and physiological) and behavioral effects of induced pregnancy termination.
They conclude that their findings strongly suggest that mid-pregnancy termination in the animal model (equivalent in humans to the first trimester) induces significant negative biological and behavioral changes in the rat.
Similarly, it can be deduced from its results that there is a significant difference between induced abortion and natural abortion. Therefore, this study indicates the importance and need for further objective research on induced abortion, including studies at the physiological and neurophysiological levels. This work can broaden our understanding and potentially shed some light on the potential biobehavioral impact of such a procedure at the human level.
It should be added that, since this is an animal model, the objectively observed negative changes associated with induced abortion do not include possible effects related to guilt or religious beliefs or moral attitudes, but are due exclusively to neurophysiological imbalances related to induced abortion.
Conclusion
The inclusion of induced abortion as a reproductive health service, as is the case in many of the countries where it is legalized, conceals, in light of these results, an irresolvable contradiction. Abortion is not only lethal to the embryo or fetus involved, but also induces objectively negative psychological and physiological effects, even the risk of premature death, in the woman who aborts. It should be remembered that all studies analyzing the phenomenon agree that these consequences are exacerbated in the case of repeated abortions.
Legalizing, protecting, promoting, or recognizing as a right a practice that harms babies and their mothers is unjustifiable in any society, but even more so when data is currently accumulating that gives an idea of the extent of the damage inflicted.
The particularly negative consequences in cases of repeated induced abortions, which are on the rise especially in countries where abortion is legal, should make both the scientific community and regulatory agencies reflect on the harmful consequences of abortion, which, beyond causing the death of an innocent person, multiplies the risks to the health and lives of the women who have it. This information must be provided without fail to women who decide to have an abortion so that they can exercise their right to autonomy, knowing the consequences of their decisions, which are currently poorly informed or simply omitted from the information provided.
It is also worth highlighting the evidence presented in these studies regarding the protective effect of full-term pregnancies on the health and life expectancy of women, both those who remain childless and those who suffer miscarriages.
Julio Tudela. Bioethics Observatory. Catholic University of Valencia
Literature
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