"I cried from the bellows of the earth..."

"Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences" last month published a scientific analysis of research studies on the after-effects of abortion on women's mental health.

The paper, entitled “Abortion and subsequent mental health: review of the literature”, is abstracted here:

The risk that abortion may be correlated with subsequent mental disorders needs a careful assessment, in order to offer women full information when facing a difficult pregnancy. All research papers published between 1995 and 2011, were examined, to retrieve those assessing any correlation between abortion and subsequent mental problems. A total of 36 studies were retrieved, and six of them were excluded for methodological bias. Depression, anxiety disorders (e.g. post-traumatic stress disorder) and substance abuse disorders were the most studied outcome. Abortion versus childbirth: 13 studies showed a clear risk for at least one of the reported mental problems in the abortion group versus childbirth, five papers showed no difference, in particular if women do not consider their experience of fetal loss to be difficult, or if after a fetal reduction the desired fetus survives. Only one paper reported a worse mental outcome for childbearing. Abortion versus unplanned pregnancies ending with childbirth: four studies found a higher risk in the abortion groups and three, no difference. Abortion versus miscarriage: three studies showed a greater risk of mental disorders due to abortion, four found no difference and two found that short-term anxiety and depression were higher in the miscarriage group, while long-term anxiety and depression were present only in the abortion group. In conclusion, fetal loss seems to expose women to a higher risk for mental disorders than childbirth; some studies show that abortion can be considered a more relevant risk factor than miscarriage; more research is needed in this field.

Not that this is any news to us who've come to regret our abortions.

Let's sum that up even further.

Comparing abortion vs. childbirth (planned or unplanned): 17 studies found evidence of higher risk of mental problems due to abortion, out of 26 studies deemed scientifically sound and valid.

And of the remaining nine studies, only one showed childbearing to have the worse mental outcome.

Another article with excellent footnotes to DYOR summarizes several other studies and women's stories, including this 1996 Finnish study on suicide after abortion:

Researchers in Finland interviewed 600,000 women for a study that showed that women who became pregnant and had abortions were six times more likely to commit suicide than women who carried their pregnancies to term. Women who aborted were three times more likely to commit suicide than those who had not been pregnant. The statistics show that rather than increasing a woman’s chances of suicide, carrying a baby to term actually decreases them.

A later study by one of those researchers found more of the same:

A related study, in the European Journal of Health, found similar results. This study tracked 463,473 women who became pregnant between the years of 1980 and 2004 and recorded their mortality rates after either giving birth or having abortions. They 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 for these women.

It's still mind-boggling to me how at least 50% of the American public, and a greater percentage of our elected officials, bow down to the likes of Planned Parenthood and N.O.W., who have lied to us and who have gotten far too many people to believe that this—"instant nervous breakdowns," "screaming from the top of my lungs and saying I wish I could die too," and suicidal attempts, successful or not—this is called "women's healthcare."

I have shed many tears [over my abortion] over the last few years and now I’m angry. I’m angry at myself, my family, the abortion clinic, their counselors, the doctors... and most of all I’m mad at my government, who prints “IN GOD WE TRUST” on our coins, yet has legalized the daily painful, violent slaughter of the youngest members of our society.

This is not the United States of America anymore, not as it was founded to be. This is not healthcare. This is destroying women, from the inside out.

Just ask George Zallie...about his daughter Stacy.

And we, this nation, are facilitating it. Legalized it.

[Kudos to Sarah Terzo for that essay. By the way, she is a "pro-life author and creator of the clinicquotes.com website. She is a member of Secular Pro-Life and Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians." You go, girl.]