New Study Links Abortion to
Increased Risk of Child Abuse
Authors Say Emotional Healing After Abortion
Will Increase Likelihood of "Violence Free" Families
Springfield, IL (October 24,
2005) -- A new study published in the medical journal Acta
Paediatrica has found that women who have had an abortion are
2.4 times more likely to physically abuse their children.
The study, led by Priscilla
Coleman of Bowling Green State University, looked at data taken from
a survey of 518 low-income women in Baltimore who were receiving Aid
to Families with Dependent Children and who had at least one child
aged 12 years or younger. The data compared rates of child abuse and
neglect among women who had experienced either an involuntary
(miscarriage or stillbirth) or voluntary (induced abortion)
pregnancy loss.
The results showed that women
with a history of one induced abortion were 2.4 times more likely to
physically abuse their children than women who had not had an
abortion. In addition, the increase in risk among women who had
experienced an abortion was more significant than the increase among
women who had experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth.
The authors suggested that
"emotional difficulties and unresolved grief responses" from
pregnancy loss, whether voluntary or involuntary, could have a
negative impact on women's mental health and lead to unhealthy
parenting responses. Past studies have linked pregnancy loss to an
increase in grief reactions, anxiety, depression, sleep
disturbances, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, all of
which can have a negative impact on parent/child relationships.
In addition, induced abortion
has been linked to an increased risk of substance abuse and suicidal
thoughts, and a 2002 study published in the Journal of Child
Psychiatry and Psychology found that children whose mothers had
a history of abortion tended to have less supportive home
environments and more behavioral difficulties.
The current study showed that
although a single involuntary pregnancy loss did not significantly
increase the risk of child abuse or neglect, physical abuse was more
common among women who had experienced multiple involuntary
pregnancy losses. However, women who had repeat abortions were not
more likely to abuse their children than women who had one abortion,
although abortion increased the risk of physical abuse overall.
In addition, neither form of
pregnancy loss was linked to child neglect, leading the authors to
speculate that mothers with unresolved losses may be able to "go
through the motions" of meeting their children's basic needs but
have difficulty coping with issues such as anger or parent/child
conflict.
"Regardless of the specific
mechanisms at play, maternal history of one induced abortion does
appear to be a marker for increased risk of physical abuse," the
authors wrote.
They also noted that while
emotional difficulties related to miscarriage or stillbirth are
usually resolved within a few years, women who have abortions are
often not given an opportunity to resolve feelings of grief or other
related emotions. According to Elliot Institute director Dr. David
Reardon, who has worked on more than a dozen published studies
documenting abortion's negative impact on women, many women either
feel a need to keep the abortion a secret or are told to simply
"move on" when they try to discuss their pain.
Reardon said that greater
attention needs to be focused on the long-term effects of abortion
on women and their families.
"The common perception seems to
be that abortion solves the immediate problem of a crisis pregnancy
and that therefore it must be a positive thing for women," he said.
"However, more and more studies such as this one show that abortion
can have a severe and lasting impact on women's lives, shaping their
futures and the futures of their families for years to come."
The current study is one of the
first to compare rates of child abuse among women who had
experienced an involuntary pregnancy loss as opposed to those who
experienced a voluntary loss. However, the authors noted that the
findings were limited by the size of the study and called for more
research to be done using larger groups of women.
"In the event that such a large
scale effort yields robust findings consistent with those described
... more efforts should be directed toward helping women restore
their emotional health following abortion," the authors wrote.
"Investment in such programs is likely to improve the quality of
their lives and increase the likelihood that their future families
will be violence free."
