Abortion Pro Choice Forum - Effects of Abortion

This is to provide a reference to anyone who wishes to explore the effects of abortion on women.

emotional/phychological effects

from http://www.Findarticles.Com/p/a rticles/mi_m3225/is_n1_v45/ai_11899635/pg_ 1
several studies that examined emotional response immediately after abortion found that women are more likely to be depressed before abortion than after abortion. [3,14,15] studies indicate that most women have a sense of relief after abortion, althouth the next most common emotional response is guilt. [2,5,6,11,12,15] negative emotions reflect concerns such as a sense of loss or social disapproval, [2,6] symptoms of distress and dysphoria after abortion may be a continuation of symptoms that were present before the procedure, rather than a result of the procedure itself. [3]

long-term follow-up studies of women who have undergon a therapeutic abortion have revealed favorable outcomes, positive responses to abortion and few long-term psychologic sequelae. [11,14] one to two years after abortion, most women report improved emotional health and satisfaction. [3,14,16,17] for the small number of women who have a history of serious psychiatric problems, abortion has little effect on the course of their psychiatric condition. [17]

from http://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/entrez/q uery.Fcgi?Cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&l ist_uids=943199&dopt=abstract
each patient received brief counselling before termination. Follow-up examinations were carried out by means of detailed, structured interviews at three months and between 15 months and two years (mean: 18 months) after termination. Outcome was assessed in terms of psychiatric symptoms, guilt feelings, and adjustment in marital and other interpersonal relationships, sexual responsiveness and work record. Compared with ratings of psychosocial adjustment before termination, significant improvement had occurred at follow-up in respect of psychiatric symptoms, guilt feelings and interpersonal and sexual adjustment; there was no significant change in marital adjustment. Adverse psychiatric and social sequelae were rare.

from http://archpsyc.Ama-a ssn.Org/cgi/gca?Gca=33%2f6%2f725&submi t.X=72&submit.Y=7
psychological outcome of abortion was studied in 102 patients, measuring multiple variables over four time intervals. Five measured affects--anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, and shame-were significantly lower six months after the preabortion period.
...
Data suggest that women most vulnerable to conflict are those who are single and nulliparous, those with previous history of serious emotional problems, conflictual relationships to lovers, past negative relationships to mother, strong ambivalence toward abortion, or negative religious or cultural attitudes about abortion.

from http://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/entrez/ query.Fcgi?Cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed& dopt=abstract&list_uids=15203586&q uery_hl=105&itool=pubmed_docsum
women's satisfaction was assessed using the visual analogue scale from 0 to 10. Satisfaction and acceptability parameters were correlated with socio-demographic and obstetric data. The mean degree of overall satisfaction was 8.3 (range 1-10). Around 90% of women would select the method again and would recommend it to a friend or relative

from http://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/entrez/q uery.Fcgi?Cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&d opt=abstract&list_uids=7817735&que ry_hl=140&itool=pubmed_docsum
a substantial body of objective data now exists to support the consensus view that induced abortion results in a low incidence of psychiatric morbidity.
...
There were no significant differences between women allocated at random to medical abortion or vacuum aspiration in post-abortal anxiety, depression or low self-esteem. Women with high levels of mood disturbance prior to abortion, who were smokers or who had medical complications following abortion were at highest risk of post-abortal mood disorder
...
The quantitative findings of the study support the consensus view that abortion is associated with high incidence of psychological benefit, whichever method is used.

compilations:
http://reproductiveaccess.Org/resourc es/abortion/med_ab/outcomes.Htm
http://w ww.Psycom.Net/depression.Central.Dep-abort .Html

physical effects

professor valerie beral, director, cancer research uk epidemiology unit, university of oxford:
the results should make it clear that studies which are properly designed show pregnancies that end in abortion don't increase the risk of breast cancer.

professor sir richard peto, from the cancer research uk epidemiology unit in oxford:
some previous reviews on abortion and breast cancer have reached mistaken conclusions because they mixed together data from reliable and unreliable types of study.

professor valerie beral and colleagues found out of the 83,000 women, only 44,000 had predicated in reliable studies. They were asked before they were diagnosed with cancer to tell researchers whether or not they had an abortion or miscarriage. Results from these women showed that for those who had miscarried there was no increased risk of breast cancer compared to the general population.

The risk was actually slightly lower among those who had an abortion.

from http://arjournals.Annualreviews.O rg/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.Publhealth.26.0 21304.144351;jsessionid=nxwwj5gl7so7uccp8i ?Cookieset=1&journalcode=publhealth
abortion is an extremely safe and common medical procedure. In the united states, over one million women had an abortion in the year 2000. Advances in early abortion techniques have helped to increase the proportion of early procedures, the safest type

from http://www.Rcog .Org.Uk/index.Asp?Pageid=649#safe
for most women an abortion is safer than carrying a pregnancy and having a baby. All medical and surgical procedures have risks, but the earlier in pregnancy you have an abortion, the safer it is. Your doctor or nurse should tell you about risks and complications that relate to the specific abortion procedure(s) being offered to you. If you have special concerns about certain kinds of risk, let your healthcare team know so that they can tell you more
...
Problems at the time of abortion are not very common
...
Research evidence shows that having an abortion does not increase your risk of developing breast cancer.

from http://www. Cancer.Gov/cancerinfo/ere-workshop-report< /a>
induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk.

from http://www.Cancer.Gov/cancertopics/ factsheet/risk/abortion-miscarriage
in february 2003, the national cancer institute (nci) convened a workshop of over 100 of the world's leading experts who study pregnancy and breast cancer risk. Workshop participants reviewed existing population-based, clinical, and animal studies on the relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer risk, including studies of induced and spontaneous abortions. They concluded that having an abortion or miscarriage does not increase a woman's subsequent risk of developing breast cancer

[t]he only notice from the u.S. National cancer institute is to question the methodology of the studies that have found links between abortion and breast cancer. Many of them rely on women self-reporting abortions, creating the possibility that those who later developed breast cancer will admit to having had an abortion and those who have not developed breast cancer will not. Others used samples too small to be considered statistically valid.

"the relationship between abortion and breast cancer has been the subject of extensive research," according to a fact sheet distributed by the national cancer institute. "however, evidence of a direct relationship between breast cancer and either spontaneous or induced abortion is inconsistent. Some studies have indicated small elevations in risk, while others have not shown any risk associated with either induced or spontaneous abortions."

from http://www.Womensenews.Org/article.Cfm/d yn/aid/818/context/cover/
many researchers are troubled, however, by the trend because the weight of current scientific evidence does not seem to support a link between breast cancer and abortion.

from http://www.Cancer. Gov/cancerinfo/wyntk/breast
-this one has tons of information about breasts in general and breast cancer in particular. Below i've highlighted important info found under 'risks':
much research has been done to learn whether having an abortion or a miscarriage affects a woman's chance of developing breast cancer later on. Large, well-designed studies have consistently shown no link between abortion or miscarriage and the development of breast cancer.

misc facts

from http://www.Findarticles.Com/p/a rticles/mi_m3225/is_n1_v45/ai_11899635/pg_ 1
studies on compulsory parenthood in europe have found that forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy is more likely to be harmful to a woman's mental health than choosing an abortion. Abortion applicants who are rejected often seek illegal abortions. Morbidity is greater in women who carry unwantd pregnancies to term. [1] women forced into motherhood generally have less stable marriages, poorer interaction with their husbands, less involvement with their children and a greater incidence of depression. [4,27] unwanted children have a higher incidence of physical or mental impairment, and the families of these children have a higher incidence of psychiatric disorders, educational deficiencies, criminal behavior and alcoholism. [1,4]

from http://www.Cancer.Org/docroot/cri /content/cri_2_4_2x_what_are_the_risk_fact ors_for_cervical_cancer_8.Asp?Sitearea=
multiple pregnancies: women who have had many full-term pregnancies have an increased risk of developing cervical cancer. This may be because some of the women may have had a higher exposure to hpv.

from http: //www.Nlm.Nih.Gov/medlineplus/ency/article /000900.Htm
the incidence increases with each pregnancy, and it is estimated that 1 in 20 women who have had 6 or more previous deliveries are at risk. The rate of placenta previa is doubled in multiple pregnancy (carrying more than one baby).

dr. J.Brind is the major proponent, it appears, of the abortion/breast cancer link. He is not a md, he's a ph.D and his speciality is diabetes not epidemiology. He is also a born-again christian and the president of a pro-life organization. He is not an unbiased source. He's the fellow who calculated in the 1995 december edition of the national review (pp. 38-41) that women have 300 times the risk of dying from induced abortion than childbirth.

Consider japan. In japan, 3/4 of all 50 year old women have had an abortion since abortion is the main method of birth control in that country, yet japanese women have a much lower rate of breast cancer than america does. They should be dying at three times the rate were brind correct.