Mental Effects Of Abortion Essay

In 2012, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 699,202 abortions were performed in the United States. The psychological effects of abortions have been widely studied since 1987 when anti-choice president Ronald Reagan directed the then Surgeon General, Everret Koop, to study and report on the mental effects of induced abortion. The report claimed that there was not enough evidence to conclude the psychologic effects on women of induced abortion (Koop,1987). This report is contrary to hundreds of other reports that concluded that the negative mental side effects of abortions were miniscule. Since Koop’s report in 1987, dozens of additional studies have been done and overwhelmingly shown that the risk for mental health problems in …show more content…
Of course it can’t be argued that women never experience undesirable mental effects after abortions but there are usually outside factors that are influencing the women not just an abortion on its own. Factors that can affect the mental health of an individual after an abortion can include religious affiliation, family pressure, history of mental health problems, and the circumstances under which the abortion was obtained (“Emotional Side Effects After an Abortion.”) Most studies have found that these negative feelings of regret or guilt are usually because of one of the previous factors not the abortion itself (Adler, 1989)(Major, 2008). Another factor worth mentioning is that in studies in which the result leads to the conclusion that abortions do cause undue mental strain and trauma researchers have found these studies to be deeply flawed in many aspects. One such study was lead by Vignetta Charles, Abortion and long-term mental health outcomes: a systematic review of the evidence, was published in a 2008 issue of the journal Contraception. The report