Safe abortion does not cause harm to mental health

Abortion is surrounded by myths and one of them is that having an abortion leaves after-effects or mental disorders, such as depression, suicide or substance abuse. There is even talk of the existence of a “post-abortion syndrome”. This is completely false and several scientific studies have proven it.

If you are considering abortion as an option and are concerned that this procedure may negatively and transcendentally impact your psycho-emotional health, don’t worry, we share information based on scientific evidence for you to find some answers.

Since 2007, different teams of experts in countries such as the United States, England, Australia, the Netherlands and New ^Zealand1 have been working on a number of projects in the following countries conducted research to answer the question: Does abortion affect women’s mental health?

The conclusion is clear: safe and legal abortion is not associated with the development of negative mental health conditions. In fact, 95% of women who participated in these studies said they made the best decision.

Performing an abortion in a safe, legal, informed and technologically appropriate manner avoids negative consequences for the mental health of those who choose to exercise this right. Thanks to this type of research, we now know that those who underwent an elective abortion tended to project a positive future, with goals and a satisfactory life plan.

To take into account

However, experts warned of other factors that could have an impact. The studies revealed that women who have been forced to continue with unwanted pregnancies are those who tend to develop, for example, anxiety and present pregnancy complications.

Stigma and social prejudice for having an abortion were also found to be triggers for the discomfort that some women who terminated their pregnancies may feel. In Mexico City, for example, 1 in 3 women reported feeling worried that people close and dear to them would judge them for having an abortion^.2

Regarding depression, it is important to know that living with this condition prior to terminating the pregnancy may be related to symptoms of depression after the procedure, but do not panic: it is normal to experience feelings of sadness and stress after the abortion if we are surrounded by social stigma, however, it is proven that these decrease over time and many women even report that their initial feeling of discomfort was transformed into relief.

In these adverse environments, it is important to have support according to our needs, either from a mental health professional or through support networks: friends, partners, family members, and even women and acquaintances who accompany us in this type of process. Deciding about our reproduction makes it possible for us to improve our control over our bodies and to build, with freedom, our life plan^.3

We invite you to read our blog Safe abortion from the voices of women who used medication, to learn the findings of women who had safe abortions using this method. You can also visit Focos, a platform where you can access testimonies of women who terminated their pregnancies, in audio, videos, images and letters.

If you are interested in going deeper, check our publication Abortion and Mental Health.

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1. This research includes that conducted by the American Psychological Association incorporating an evaluation of the evidence on abortion and mental health, in 2018; a report by the Royal Academy of Medical Colleges of London on induced abortion and mental health, in 2011; a study on emotions and perceptions of the decision to have had an abortion five years later, published in the scientific journal Social Science & Medicine, in 2020, among others.
2. From the research: Relationship between perceived stigma and depressive symptomatology in women who legally terminate pregnancy in Mexico City. Mental health, conducted in 2019.
3. From the research: Story Circles and abortion stigma in Mexico: a mixed-methods evaluation of a new intervention for reducing individual level abortion stigma, conducted in 2020 and published in the journal Culture, Health & Sexuality.