What is it about?
The idea that abortion causes mental health harm is used to defend laws that restrict women’s access to abortion. This study relies on data from the Turnaway study, a five-year longitudinal study of nearly 1,000 women who have an abortion and of women denied abortions. The five-year suicidal ideation trajectories of women who have an abortion are compared to those denied an abortion, in order to assess whether having an abortion increases women's risk of suicidal ideation.
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Why is it important?
This study improves on the methodological shortcomings of the existing literature by accounting for pre-exisitng risk factors, comparing women have an abortion to women denied an abortion, and following women prospectively over five years. Abortion was not found to be associated with an increased risk of experiencing suicidal thoughts over the five-year period. Suicidal ideation, did not increase, but rather decreased over time.
Perspectives
The findings from this study suggest that women who have an abortion need not be forwarned that they are at increased risk of having suicidal thoughts.
M. Antonia Biggs
University of California San Francisco
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Five-Year Suicidal Ideation Trajectories Among Women Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion, American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2018, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18010091.
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