Abortion And Mental Health Complications

The practice of abortions throughout the United States are safe. Abortions have become safer since the procedure was reluctantly legalized in the United States-by the Supreme Court-in 1973. According to The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs the number of deaths associated with abortion drastically dropped from roughly four out of every one hundred thousand women in 1973 to .6 per every one hundred thousand women in 1997 (Abortion is Safe). These statistics show that procedure in how an abortion is performed has become safer since legalization. Legalization of abortion permitted the procedure to be performed in a sterile setting- such as a hospital operating room. The medical risk associated with an abortion procedure is highly overestimated. An abortion performed exactly as medically advised carries half the risk of a tonsillectomy (Abortion is Safe). (A tonsillectomy is a simple procedure that is performed on many children in their childhood.) On the other hand, anti-abortion advocates point to emotional problems that could harm the pregnant woman after an abortion. These advocates attempt to show there is a link to mental disorders in post abortion women. A New Zealand study looked to verify this claim. The analysis showed that there was a credible link between depression, suicide attempts and substance abuse in post abortion women (Cords). Researchers also aimed to connect having an abortion with post-traumatic stress disorder

One of the most widely discussed issues within the topic of abortion is the mental health of the mother. Research by Guttmacher Advisory says “Based on the best scientific evidence currently available, there is no credible evidence that abortion, in and of itself, causes mental health problems for most women.”(2008). Guttmacher backs their claims with studies and research done by the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA states that many studies didn’t take into account how a woman’s mental health was before thinking about abortion. They also point out that any significant life event is stressful such as divorce or a death so one cannot say abortion

The only terms used by the scientific community to refer to psychological pain of abortion are those associated with anxiety, depression or some corollaries of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Indeed, testing protocols and treatment of PTSD can be used only if the symptoms provide clear manifestations in a period close to the event. However, the manifestation of suffering of abortion is often part time, or even cannot come to the surface at the approach of its own death. Encysted psychological suffering will then wait for an event occur and strong for the person to make the connection between past events and the suffering of abortion. Some testimonials even mention the period immediately following

Pro-life activist argue that abortion leaves women suffering psychological and physical damage. This arguments are mostly based on peer-reviewed studies published by several medical journals. For example, they used a peer-reviewed study published in BMC Medicine in 2005 that stated that even after five years of the pregnancy termination, women had higher anxiety scores. Also, a peer-reviewed study published in 2002 by the

Abortion, for the vast majority of people is not a subject that is easy to talk about. According to the World Health Organization, out of the 211 million pregnancies, 46 million end up in abortion and 18 million of those abortions are done in what WHO considers unsafe conditions (World Health Report, 2007). Unsafe conditions are defined by WHO as, “ abortions performed by people lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both” (World Health Report, 2007). The maternal death rate for women who have unsafe abortions is 350 out of 100,000, and there are other complications that are not fatal but can lead to disease or disability (World Health Report, 2007).

Abortions are not dangerous if they are performed by professionals, in fact it’s one of the safest medical procedures with a .01 death rate. .01 is pretty low when you look at the death rate while giving birth, it is 13 times higher. When the accessibility of abortions is limited many deaths occur from back alley abortions. An estimated 68,000 deaths are due to abortions not being available.

Before abortion was made legal in 1973, women would seek illegal methods called “back-alley” abortions. These methods were performed at home with coat hangers and knitting needles, by medical professionals, or by the use of herbs. Health Research Funding estimates that five to ten thousand women died each year due to illegal procedures. Illegal procedure would also cause infertility among women due to the injuries sustained. Thankfully, with the passing of Roe V. Wade, abortions today are much safer. The American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated “Abortion is one the safest medical procedures performed in the United States.” A woman’s risk of dying from a modern abortion is 0.6 in 100,000 while the risk of dying from giving birth is around 14 times higher at 8.8 in 100,000. A study by Obstetrics & Gynecology in January of 2015 reported that less than 2.5% of the 1.21 million abortions every year lead to major health

One of the nine reasons found that we should not legalize abortion is the laws against abortion kill women (Kilinger). Many women are killed each year during childbirth, but almost four times more women are killed when they have an abortion (Lowen). Women need to know the health risks involved with abortions before making that choice. Having an abortion has many long lasting effects such as: emotional disorders, blood infections, and an increase in breast cancer (Lowen). The leading causes of death for the women who had an abortion are infection, hemorrhage, bowel injuries, clotting disorders. If air was to get to the amniotic fluid, or fetal tissue to get into the woman’s blood stream they would die (Kilinger).Sometimes abortions are not effective, and

Abortions prior to January 22, 1973 were illegal. And many women made desperate and dangerous attempts to induce their own abortion or resorted to untrained providers in unsanitary conditions. This often led to complications needing emergency care that ranged from perforated uterus, retained placenta, hemorrhaging, cervical wounds, infections, poisoning, shock and gangrene. An estimated 68,000 women worldwide die each year from unsafe abortions in countries where abortions are illegal (National Abortion federation). Since the Supreme Court reestablished legal abortion in the U.S. in the 1973 Roe V. Wade decision, women have benefited from significant advances in medical technology and greater access to high-quality services. Generally, the earlier the abortion the less complicated and safer it is. Complications arising from aspiration abortions provided before 13 weeks are quite unusual. About 88 percent of the women who obtain abortions are less than 13 weeks pregnant. Of these women, 97 percent report no complications; 2.5 percent have minor complications that can be

Various studies have been conducted to show the psychological effects following an abortion. According to the results some women experience depression and anxiety. These psychological effects reflect on several factors. Abortion may relieve stress by ending an unwanted pregnancy, but the event itself may simultaneously be experienced as a stressor causing anxiety grief, guilt, despair and anger. These factors could lead to depression, as feelings of powerless, anger and self-condemnation are emotions that underlie depression. Controversies exist whether abortion is linked with mental health or not. Future research requires a better understanding of the conditions that lead to unwanted pregnancy and abortion with the ultimate goal of improving women’s lives and well being.

In this website they discuss the percentage of abortions that happen daily and monthly in the United States and the different methods that women use in order to get this procedure done. The purpose of the website is to create awareness and to stop the movement. The website was made by students that were concerned about the risks that abortion causes in short term as well as long term. They include a list of medical complications as well as emotional complications along the way. After the abortion is done, people are more likely to have higher risk of breast, ovarian and cervical cancer. The website is really useful since it provides statistical knowledge and common facts that many people are

When they were illegal, women would often resort to at home abortions, which involve using a coat hanger to remove the fetus. In 2004 there were an estimation of 68,000 maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions (top). Banning abortions can lead to the death of women. People argue that abortions can lead to cancer and infertility but that is untrue. “Advancements in the medical field have dramatically reduced complications from abortion; studies show that it is actually safer than carrying a pregnancy to full term” (top). Professionally done abortions are much safer than at home abortions. Along with abortion preventing people from coat hanger abortions, it also prevents people from developing conditions from giving birth. One woman developed plugged ducts, a condition in which the breasts become painfully engorged with milk (Lang). If she had been able to get an abortion, she would not have developed this condition. Abortion should be legal because it reduces the risk of maternal death and other health

Claire Culwell mother , was an underage girl; 13 years old, who decided to abort Claire. However; a few weeks later she decided to go back to the clinic because unfortunately for her, her stomach was still growing.” Her doctor told her news she never expected to hear. She was still pregnant. “ The first abortion had only eliminated the first in a set of twins.” A couple of weeks later Claire was delivered prematurely. She was frail and the lower half of her body was in bad condition. Claire to this day views her mother as a hero because she didn’t have a second abortion.”She now believes that they’re changing lives because of it,”

Abortion was created to aid in certain situations in which a woman could not or did not want to give birth to a child and to care for the child. Abortion is a method in which the baby still in the mother’s womb or the living embryo/fetus is killed. Abortions will be performed for many reasons if it is an unwanted pregnancy for social and/or financial reasons or if there are medical circumstances with the child and/or the mother. A woman may be unable to carry the child or there may be congenital defects and the child would not be able to live afterbirth. The child may have genetic irregularities, such as Down syndrome. The parents may feel that they would be incapable of caring for the child and often the parents may feel that to have

The risk of breast cancer increases almost twice as much with each abortion performed. The mother is also prone to cervical, ovarian, and liver cancer. This is related to the disruption of the hormonal changes in the woman’s body during pregnancy and untreated cervical damage (“A List of Major Physical Related to Abortion”).