Study Reveals Long Term Effects of Abortion

by Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., PhD

The Cambridge University study on abortion’s effects, led by Priscilla Coleman, is one of the most comprehensive multinational, multi-year studies ever conducted on the mental health consequences of abortion for women. The research, spanning from 1995 to 2009 and involving a population of 750,000 women, was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry and highlights profound and long-lasting negative effects on mental health for women who have had abortions.

Key findings of Coleman’s Cambridge-related research include:

81% of women who had abortions exhibited a significantly higher risk of mental health problems compared to women who carried pregnancies to term and those who were not pregnant.
Specific risks included a 4.1-fold greater occurrence of suicide among post-abortive women relative to those who did not have abortions.
Suicidal contemplation and behaviors were 2.5 times more likely.
Alcohol abuse occurred 2.1 times more frequently.
Depression was 1.4 times more common.
Anxiety was 1.3 times more prevalent.

These statistics clearly indicate that abortion is associated with severe and enduring negative effects on women’s mental health.

Further, a 2018 comprehensive literature review by David Reardon for the National Center for Biotechnology Information confirmed these findings. Despite differing perspectives from both anti-abortion and pro-abortion researchers, there is agreement that abortion is consistently associated with elevated rates of mental illness—particularly symptoms resembling post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and regret—and that abortion itself contributes directly to these mental health problems in some women.

The studies imply a strong natural mother-child bond even when pregnancies are unexpected or stressful. Feelings of maternal care, responsibility, and protectiveness are frequently present, and abortion can lead to complex negative emotions including self-directed anger and hostility towards coercive partners or friends pressuring for abortion.

Importantly, the negative consequences are not limited to the preborn child but include significant emotional health harms to many women who undergo abortion. This evidence supports the longstanding Hippocratic prohibition of abortion and indicates the need for psychological support programs such as Project Rachel, Rachel’s Vineyard, and other counseling and retreat ministries that help women cope with post-abortion emotional trauma.

In summary, the Cambridge study offers statistically powerful and widely corroborated evidence that abortion has serious, long-term adverse effects on women’s mental health, including greatly increased risks of suicide and other psychiatric disorders.

Information courtesy of the Magis Center

For Further Study

Pro-Life Videos See Babies in the Womb I regret my abortion Hope After Abortion
Rachel’s Vineyard For Abortion Workers Abortion Pill Reversal Healing After Abortion

Free – Photo of 20 Week Old Fetus and What is an Abortion? and Quick Answers to the Most common Objections
Books – What to Say When by Shawn D. Carney & Steve Karlen and Unplanned by Abby Johnson and Three Approaches to Abortion by Peter Kreeft and The Walls Are Talking by Abby Johnson and Persuasive Pro-Life by Trent Horn and Two Patients by John Bruchalski, M.D. and Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence by Melissa Ohden and Speaking for the Unborn: 30 Second Pro-Life Rebuttals by Steven A. Christie M.D., J.D.
DVD – Changing Sides with Abby Johnson and Unplanned
eBooks – Making the Case for Life by Trent Horn
Pregnancy Crisis Centers – Care Net
Web Site – BabyOlivia.com and Life Issues Institute and Abortion Drug Facts