The largest study found that abortion does not raise the risk of mental health problems. In a study by Danish researchers analyzed three lakh and sixty five thousand teenagers and women who had first time delivery or abortion between 1995 and 2007. None had history of psychiatric problems that need hospitalization.
During the period of study nearly eighty-five thousand women had abortion while two lakh eighty thousand and nine hundred gave birth. The researchers compared the rate of mental health treatment among women before and after a first abortion. Within the first year of abortion about fifteen per one thousand women required psychiatric counseling.
According to researchers women who seek abortions generally come from demographic section and more prone to have emotional problems to start with. The statistics revealed large number had economical problems and they had over normal rates of unplanned pregnancies. Whereas first time mother had lower rate of mental problems. The percentage of those looking for help after giving birth was considerably higher.
The most frequent problems among women having abortion or having delivery were incapacitating nervousness, severe stress and depression. The women should be familiar with her risk of having a psychiatric episode is not amplified after an abortion, explained lead researcher Trine Munk-Olsen from Aarhus University. The study did not analyze the cause of abortion.
The research team also only studied mental problems serious enough to warrant admission to a hospital or outpatient clinic and did not look into the role of mild depression and other lesser symptoms. Experts stated that changes in hormone levels, sleep deprivation and other demands related with having a baby could trigger mental problems.
A separate assessment by Dr. Robert Blum and team found that the most scrupulous study on the topic did not find an association between abortion and long-term mental health problems. Earlier studies have suggested such a connection were frequently inadequately calculated, had loafer rates or did not control for factors that could affect the conclusion.