Abortion Does Not Increase Mental Health Disorders

Authors of a new study of Danish women and girls have concluded that having a first-trimester abortion does not increase a woman’s risk of developing a mental health condition. Of the 365,550 individuals studied between 1995 and 2007 who either gave birth for the first time or had an abortion, the latter group – 84,620 women – had roughly the same rate of seeking psychiatric help before the abortion as afterward. On the other hand, of those who gave birth, the rate of those who sought help in the year after delivery was significantly higher than the rate of those who sought help before having a child. Authors of this study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that the stresses of parenthood, coupled with hormonal changes and less sleep, may explain the increase. To read the free abstract, go to http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0905882