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Women's Suicide
Rates Highest After Abortion, New Study
Springfield, IL (Nov. 29,
2005) — Compared to women who have not been pregnant in the prior
year, deaths from suicide, accidents and homicide are 248% higher in
the year following an abortion, according to a new 13-year study of
the entire population of women in Finland.
The study also
found that majority of the extra deaths among women who had
abortions were due to suicide. The suicide rate among women who had
abortions was six times higher than that of women who had given
birth in the prior year and double that of women who had
miscarriages.
The
epidemiological study, published in the European Journal of
Public Health, was conducted by Finland’s National Research and
Development Center for Welfare and Health (STAKES). The researchers
looked at data between 1987 and 2000 on all deaths among women of
reproductive age (15 to 49).
While the risk
of death from suicide, accidents, and homicide was highest among
women who had abortions within the prior year, the risk of death was
lowest among women who gave birth within the prior year, who had
less than half the death rate of women who had not been pregnant.
The risk of death following a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy,
however, did not significantly differ from the risk of death among
non-pregnant women.
The new study
confirms findings from previous record-based studies carried out in
Finland and the United States that have found elevated risks of
death among women who have abortions. A 1997 government-funded study
in Finland found that aborting women were 3.5 times more likely to
die within the next year compared to women who gave birth.
In addition,
researchers examining death records linked to medical payments for
birth and abortion for 173,000 California women found that aborting
women were 62 percent more likely to die than delivering women over
the eight year period examined. That study also found that the
increase risk of death was most prominent from suicides and
accidents, with a 154 percent higher risk of death from suicide and
an 82 percent higher risk of death from accidental injuries.
The lead
author of the California study, David Reardon, Ph.D., said that
record-linkage studies are vital to getting an accurate picture of
pregnancy-associated mortality rates. "In most cases, coroners
simply have no way of knowing that the deceased recently had an
abortion, which is why these new record linkage studies are so
important," he said.
Indeed,
another recent study by government health officials in Finland found
that 94 percent of maternal deaths associated with abortion could
not be identified by looking at death certificates alone. This
finding applies to the data
published by the Centers for Disease Control in the United States.
Previous
studies have also linked abortion to higher rates of substance abuse, anxiety, sleep disorders, suicidal thoughts, psychiatric
illness,
relationship problems, and risk-taking
behavior, any of
which may increase a women’s risk of death by suicide or accident.
The authors of the new Finland study also speculated that there
might be common risk factors between having an induced abortion and
dying from an accidental injury, and called on medical professional
to be aware of these risks.
"Women seeking
abortions should be informed that abortion is associated with
significant physical and mental health risks, and it also deprives
them of numerous physical and mental health benefits associated with
childbirth." Reardon said. "It is especially important for health
care providers to be aware of these risks and the risk factors which
identify those women who are at highest risk. Providing women with
the resources to help them resolve emotional issues relating to past
abortions will not only increase their well-being but may possibly
save their lives."
###
Sources:
M. Gissler
et. al., "Injury deaths, suicides and
homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland
1987-2000," European J. Public Health 15(5):459-63
(2005).
M Gissler
et. al., "Pregnancy Associated Deaths in
Finland 1987-1994 -- definition problems and benefits of record
linkage," Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
76:651-657 (1997).
DC Reardon
et. al., "Deaths Associated With
Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women," Southern
Medical Journal 95(8):834-41 (2002).
M.
Gissler, et. al., "Methods for identifying
pregnancy-associated deaths: population-based data from Finland 19872000,"
Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 18(6): 448-55
(2004).
SUICIDE AND
ABORTION a list of
articles and links: prepared by Emily Peterson, After
Abortion Blogspot.com
- Lime
5: Exploited by Choice, compiled by Mark Crutcher, at
Amazon or from the publisher, Life
Dynamics for
only $10. There’s a summary of it here.
In the book, there are at least
three suicide stories after an abortion (pp. 79-80, p. 118), as
well as several others of "psychological injury" (pp. 134,
260-261), and "depression" (pp. 38, 74). It offers much
information and many recommendations that pertain to informed
choice and consent in Chapter 8 (including better performing state
medical licensing boards, etc.), and about the legal issues and
arguments involved in abortion malpractice suits in Chapter
7.
- There are Christina
Dunigan's Real Choice
website and the
Cemetery of
Choice.
She
has a great separate section called Suicide
Prevention.
- PTSD after
abortion is
discussed here.
Many other articles on suicide and abortion
are found in these links:
- Guilt of abortion makes
19-yr-old commit suicide
- National Institutes of Health
Suicide Report
- A psychiatrist falls in love
with a woman disturbed by her abortion
- August 2002 Southern Medical
Journal report
- South Dakota women testify
before the House about their suicide attempts
- More on the above
story
- From the book,
Grieving Reproductive Loss (links to current suicide/abortion
research)
- Book Where Is My
Rainbow?, by an aunt whose niece committed suicide
five months after an abortion.
- Woman whose niece killed herself
after an abortion (linking to the news story about
it)
- Gloria Feldt's
Behind Every Choice Is a
Story vs. the five research studies
- Medical Science Reports findings
about PTSD, suicide and abortion
- Kid Rock's Suicide
Song
- Woman thinks of suicide every
year
- One woman attempted suicide
twice
- Another woman who attempted
suicide counsels one woman who is thinking of it, both
postabortive
- Poet Anne Sexton's poem called
"Abortion", and
her subsequent suicide
- Teen's immense emotional pain
after abortion, constant thoughts of
suicide
From another very good, postabortive friend of ours, Ashli:
- The Suicide Note and
- Another attempted
suicide
- Most common cause of death among
Chinese women ages 20-35 is suicide; this is "also the childbearing age range
and traditionally the age range in which Chinese women marry and
are allowed to conceive and bear their one child."
- Lastly, this is a
related link to a running summary of forced or coerced
abortions.
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