Abortion is not a mental health problem

A new review of the evidence finds no causal link between abortion and depression. Now can we move the discussion on? Commentary by Jennie Bristow.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ draft review of the evidence on the mental health effects of induced abortion, published for consultation on 6 April, is a welcome contribution to the ongoing discussion of this issue. In finding no causal relationship between abortion and mental health problems, the report confirms the findings of other authoritative reviews: most notably, the American Psychological Association’s report of 2008.

The key point highlighted by the RCPsych’s review is that mental health outcomes from induced abortion or childbirth are associated with a woman’s mental health before abortion. In other words, if depression follows abortion it is because the woman has a pre-existing mental health condition, not because the abortion itself causes her to be depressed.

Furthermore, it states that mental health outcomes are likely to be the same, whether women with unwanted pregnancies opt for an abortion or birth. The review thus recognises that women seeking abortion must be compared, not with women who are not pregnant or who have wanted pregnancies, but with women in a comparable situation an unwanted pregnancy, which must be carried to term or aborted.

This review provides useful reassurance for women seeking abortion, and those who treat them. It also confirms the point made by the draft guidance on induced abortion produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, published in February: that women seeking abortion should be informed that most women who have abortions do not experience adverse psychological sequelae, and that therefore, ‘Women who are certain of their decision to have an abortion should not be subjected to compulsory counselling’. read more >>