There is a 50% increased risk of a first time psychiatric treatment in the year following a first abortion, according to a newly published reanalysis of Danish medical records. The elevated risk was highest (87% increased risk) for personality and behavioral disorders.
This study corrects the methodological errors of a previous analysis which reported that there were no differences in psychiatric treatment rates before and after a first abortion, according to the study's author, David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute.
The previous study revealed the rate of first time mental health treatments was much higher after an abortion than after a live birth. But when the authors looked at the rates of first time psychiatric treatments during the nine months prior to an abortion, they found they were already higher for the group of women who would soon be seeking abortion. Moreover, the authors reported that the rates of treatment during one, two, and three month periods after the abortion, while higher, were not statistically different than the rate reported in the nine months preceding abortion.
Based on these findings, the authors of the original study offered two conclusions. First, the women who are most likely to have abortions are more likely to have preexisting mental health problems compared to women who carry to term. Second, the higher rates of mental health problems observed after abortion are entirely explained by preexisting tendencies toward more mental health problems.
But Reardon, the author of over thirty studies examining abortions impact on women's mental health, believed that the Danish study was an outlier.
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