Discuss the psychological impact of abortion. Touch on anxiety levels and the notion that abortions trigger mental health problems

Answer 1

Abortion can have various psychological effects.As decades of research have shown, the primary emotion of women who have just had an abortion is relief. Although many women also express feelings of guilt or sadness, usually their anxiety levels drop to lower levels than immediately before the abortion.

Women who experienced violence, including rape, or high anxiety levels prior to becoming pregnant have more anxiety symptoms following an abortion. The best predictor of psychological well-being after abortion is a woman's emotional well-being prior to pregnancy. At highest risk are women who have had a psychiatric illness, such as an anxiety disorder or clinical depression, prior to an abortion, and those whose abortions occurred among complicated circumstances (such as a rape, or coercion by parents or a partner).The vast majority of women manage to put the abortion into perspective as one of many life events.

In a two-year follow-up, women who under went abortions had similar or lower levels of depression and anxiety than those who sought but were denied abortion. This finding, according to the researchers, refutes "the notion that abortion is a cause of mental health problems.".