Abortion activists want women to believe that aborting an unborn baby is virtually risk-free and making it harder to abort an unborn baby is dangerous.
They ignore numerous studies that show evidence of abortions increasing the risks of suicide and other mental health problems, future preterm births, infertility and even death. And then they put forward their own flawed studies to claim women need to abort their unborn babies to be healthy and free.
One new study from the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is being used to claim abortion restrictions hurt women’s mental health. Although researchers admitted their study is limited and inconclusive, news outlets like The Hill ran headlines that make readers think pro-life laws are to blame for an “increased suicide risk in young women.”
The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday, examined Centers for Disease Control data on suicides and compared it in states where pro-life laws restricting abortion had been enacted between 1974 and 2016, according to Devdiscourse. They also compared suicide data among women of childbearing age to older women.
“Every time a state enforced a law that was related to [abortion], we incorporated it into the index,’” said Ran Barzilay, a researcher with CHOP. “Comparatively, women who experienced the shock of this type of restrictive legislation had a significant increase in suicide rate.”
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According to The Hill, researchers said the suicide rate among women of childbearing age was 5.8 percent higher after states passed pro-life laws compared to the years prior.
Yet, the researchers admitted their study was “limited” and “further research is needed to assess whether current factors affecting access to reproductive care services are related to suicide risk among women of reproductive age.”
Many factors can lead to increased suicide rates, and there is no proof that the pro-life laws were to blame. In fact, in 2016, every American state had some of the most permissive abortion laws in the world.
There is strong evidence that one or more abortions actually increases the risk of suicide, substance abuse, anxiety/depression and other mental health problems among women.
One study in the British Medical Journal found a suicide rate nearly six times higher among women who had abortions compared to women who gave birth.
Another 2005 study, “Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000” in the European Journal of Health, found similar results. Following 463,473 women who became pregnant between 1980 and 2004, researchers found that women who had abortions were more likely to die within 10 years after their abortions than women who carried to term. Suicide was a common cause of death.
Other research from David C. Reardon, of the Elliot Institute, compared the outcomes of 173,000 American women who became pregnant and either had abortions or carried their babies to term over eight years. Reardon found that women who aborted their unborn babies were 154 percent more likely to commit suicide than women who gave birth.
Researchers also have found links between abortion and an increased risk of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
Personal testimonies shed light on the pain and regret many later feel after aborting their unborn babies. In a recent interview with CBN, Kimberly Smithers said she began doing drugs and tried to commit suicide several times after her abortion.
“It made me feel dead inside,” she said. “I felt terrible.”
Years later, Smithers said Jesus changed her life and she finally began to heal and forgive herself for her unborn child’s abortion death.
