A few weeks ago, a frequent blog topic here was whether safe and legal abortion has improved the situation of women of reproductive age. Today I received an e-newsletter from The Elliott Institute which notes a recent National Institutes of Health study that shows that the suicide rate among young women has tripled in the past twenty-five years:

A report released by the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) shows that the suicide rate among teen girls and
young women has tripled in the past 25 years, despite an
overall drop in suicide rates across the United States. NIH
reports that suicide is now the third leading cause of
death among American young people, and the sixth leading
cause of death for children between the ages of 5 and 14.

Some mental health experts attribute the increased rate of
suicide among girls and young women to broken relationships
and promiscuity. Elliot Institute director Dr. David
Reardon said that evidence shows that abortion is also
contributing to the increase in suicides. An Elliot
Institute study published in Aug. 2003 in the Southern
Medical Journal found that women who had abortions were
seven times more likely to commit suicide than women who
gave birth.

"Given the fact that more than half of all women having
abortions are under the age of 25, and more than 20 percent
of women having abortions are teenagers, the increased
suicide rate among teens and young women is sadly not a
surprise," Reardon said.

Reardon said that teens and young women often undergo
unwanted abortions because they are being pressured by
their boyfriend or parents. Studies have shown that as many
as six out of ten abortions are unwanted. In one Elliot
Institute survey of women experiencing post-abortion
problems, more than 80 percent said they would not have
aborted if they had received support from others to have
their babies.

"Even if their families might give them the support they
need to have their babies, many teens often undergo secret
abortions without telling their parents," Reardon said.
"Either way, these girls and young women often have no one
to turn to when they are in despair over an abortion."

Reardon said that pressure to abort, followed by grief for
the loss of the child and profound regret over making a
choice they didn't want to make, and feelings of isolation
and abandonment by loved ones, has created a "pressure
cooker situation for women" in which they feel that suicide
is the only way to end their pain.

"It's a recipe for tragedy," he said. "Statistics like
these should serve as a wake-up call that after 30 years of
abortion on demand, abortion is harming women, not helping
them."