Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

The study appeared in the July 2007 issue of the professional psychological publication but it only coming to light now.

 The  research involved 155 women from South Africa who had abortions and  were evaluated one month and three months afterwards.
 

Approximately 
20 percent of the women had post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms just one month later. The results led the authors to note that "high  rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone voluntary pregnancy 
termination.

 Looking 
at the women three months after the abortion, the number of women experiencing the PTSD symptoms increased 61 percent.
 

Dr. David Reardon, the head of the Elliot Institute and a post-abortion  research who has been involved in more than a dozen studies documenting
  the psychological impact of abortion on women, notified LifeNews.com  of the new study.

 "The  abortion industry should not be subjecting women to a procedure that  is likely to increase or cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress or  her mental health problems," he said.
 

"Furthermore, the evidence shows that many of these abortions are unwanted and the  result of pressure or coercion from others," Reardon added. "The industry should be held liable for putting women at risk and performing unwanted and dangerous abortions."

Reardon said the researchers also examined the effect of levels of pain and  post-abortion psychological outcomes.
 

The study found women who had received a local anesthetic versus those 
who had received IV sedation had higher levels of pain and were more  likely to experience PTSD symptoms in the short-term but there was no long-term difference.

 According to Reardon that means the abortion itself is more likely to cause  the PTSD issues rather than the kind of pain management given during the abortion process.
 

This isn’t the first study to show a link between abortion and post-traumatic  stress disorders.

 In a 2004 study published in the Medical Science Monitor, 65 percent of   American women reported PTSD symptoms after an abortion and just over percent reported all the symptoms necessary for a clinical diagnosis 
of PTSD.
 

Related  web sites:
            Elliot Institute – http://www.AfterAbortion.Info