Abortion Causes Guilt and Shame Years Later, New Study Shows 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 12, 2005
Oslo, Norway (LifeNews.com) — Another study has confirmed the fact that women who have abortions suffer from mental anxiety, guilt, shame, and distress years later. Those negative emotional feelings can last as long as five years after the abortion or even longer, the Norwegian study found.
The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, in Norway compared 40 women who suffered a miscarriage and 80 women who had abortions. Researchers questioned them 10 days, 6 months, two years and give years after what happened.
The survey found that women who had miscarriages felt more negative emotions shortly after the event compared to women who had abortions. But long-term, women who had abortions experienced significantly more distress and anguish.
Women who had abortions were 10 times more likely to have negative long-term feelings about it compared with women who had miscarriages.
The Oslo University researchers said women who have abortions should be given information telling them of the adverse emotional reaction they will likely have to it down the road.
The study follows on the heels of a comprehensive study in Finland showing that those who have had abortions have higher rates of suicide than women who carry their pregnancies to term.
The comprehensive three-year study of the entire population of women in Finland found that, compared to women who have not been pregnant in the prior year, deaths from suicide, accidents and homicide are 248% higher in the year following an abortion.
The suicide rate among women who had abortions was six times higher than that of women who had given birth in the prior year and double that of women who had miscarriages.
The epidemiological study, published in the European Journal of Public Health, was conducted by Finland’s National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health.
Pro-life group said the new Norwegian study confirmed what they have been saying for many years — namely that women will eventually severely regret their abortion decisions.
Richard Warren, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, reacting to the new study, agreed that abortion "may bring with it long-standing feelings of anxiety and guilt."
