Childbirth More Traumatic Than Abortion, Study Says

by Being Pregnant, on Tue Feb 1, 2011

A common argument against abortion is that women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are psychologically traumatized afterward. While this theory has long been considered questionable (and manipulative) by the pro-choice camp, it has been argued as fact by pro-lifers. But here’s something that could turn the whole angle on its ear.

A just-published study found that women may actually be more psychologically traumatized after giving birth to a baby than they are by having an abortion.

The study followed 365,550 women who either had an abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or gave birth to their first baby over a 12 year period. The women in the study had no prior history of mental illness. The women who had abortions were in need of psychological help at roughly the same rates before and after the procedure. The women who had babies, on the other hand…

were more than twice as likely to seek psychological help in the year following childbirth.

So according to this study, having an abortion is less traumatic for women than having a baby. And that’s not women who had pregnancies they were considering aborting. That’s births across the board.

What do you think?

Read more about this study on Being Pregnant.

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