A study published online Dec. 14 in JAMA Psychiatry “undermines” the claim that “terminating pregnancy causes women to experience emotional and psychological trauma,” the New York Times (12/14, A3, Belluck, Subscription Publication) reports. The study, which is “considered to be the most rigorous to look at the question in the” US, followed “nearly 1,000 women who sought abortions nationwide for five years and found that those who had the procedure did not experience more depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or dissatisfaction with life than those who were denied it.” In addition, the study “found psychological symptoms increased only in women who sought abortions but were not allowed to have the procedure because their pregnancies were further along than the cutoff time at the clinic they visited.”
Related Links:
— “Women’s Mental Health and Well-being 5 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion
A Prospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study,”M. Antonia Biggs, JAMA Psychiatry, December 14, 2016.