Abortion is a topic that is difficult to address, leaving behind ideological filters. It has always raised many passions and strong opinions, which has polarized the debate. That is partly why many women feel great concern about the prospect of having an abortion; It is an option that has been given a lot of importance, whether to portray it as a form of murder or to make it an expression of the freedom to decide about one’s own body.
However, the fact that there are political and religious ideologies at play does not mean that science has nothing to say. In fact, a complete investigation has recently been carried out in which It has been studied, over 5 years, how abortion or the absence of it has affected the well-being of a series of women. In this way, it was possible to know whether, in most cases, aborting produces a great feeling of sadness and guilt that can lead to frequent anxiety crises, trauma, depression, etc.
Part of the negative factors that are usually related to abortion is the high possibility of being traumatized, entering into depression or, in general, damaging one’s mental health as a result of going through this process. However, the most complete research that has been carried out on this topic has concluded that no, There are no negative psychological effects that necessarily occur after a voluntary abortion.
Does this mean that the fear produced by the prospect of having an abortion was the fruit of a propaganda campaign against this practice? That is a topic that is too complex to have a clear answer, at the moment.
But there is still more. Not only is it the case that the women who are approached do not present significant psychological discomfort years after visiting the clinic, but this occurs with the other group of women, those who cannot have an abortion.
So, Women who are not allowed to abort are those who present symptoms linked to mental disorders and general discomfort. Specifically, these women were more likely to show low self-esteem, much greater anxiety, and a high level of general discomfort. Furthermore, her desire to abort remained and her level of anxiety had repercussions on many of the dimensions of her daily life.
How was the study carried out?
To develop this research, a group of 956 volunteers was used and they were interviewed 11 times over 5 years. Some of them were able to abort, while others were not given that option, having attended the clinic at a too advanced stage of pregnancy.
So, A large sample was used that was studied through a longitudinal study, conducting two interviews per year. to be able to track the state of psychological well-being of these people.
As the waves of interviews continued, a picture of the happiness (or lack thereof) of these women regarding abortion was created.
The results of this research have been published in the scientific journal JAMA Psychiatry, and you can see them by clicking here.
Psychological impact
These results are proof of the psychologically harmful impact of making abortion impossible for women who choose this option. Although it may seem that pregnancy is the “normal” option and that approaching means going off the natural path, these data indicate the opposite: When faced with an unwanted pregnancy, the path is divided into two options, and abortion does not produce the mental effects that according to the myth it would..
Of course, this may be information that serves to weaken one of the positions in the abortion debate, but it is no less true that the design of the study was not carried out to favor one of these outcome options having a better chance of coming out.
In any case, in the end it is a struggle of moral ideas, and in this aspect Science can only provide data that is used as a tool in this type of debate (without this having to be especially bad in itself).
