Contributor: ATTWN Staff
Key Takeaways:
- A recent study of post-abortive women revealed doctors are not screening for abortion coercion and it’s hurting women in the long run.
- 84% of women with abortion histories reported at least moderate negative reactions on some measure, ~32% reported a severe reaction on at least one item.
- The authors of the study called this “medical negligence”
A study published in Issues in Law & Medicine found that abortion providers should be screening patients for psychological risk factors and that failing to do so amounts to medical negligence.
Who the Researchers Surveyed
Researchers surveyed 1,000 women aged 41–45 through an online panel and about 23% reported a history of abortion, which is close to national estimates. Those women were asked to rate, on a 0–100 scale, various pre-abortion feelings (emotional attachment to the pregnancy, moral conflict, pressure from partners or family, financial pressure) and post-abortion outcomes (negative emotions, intrusive thoughts, feeling the abortion interfered with daily life, etc.).
The team built two composite scores: a “RiskScale” (0–8) combining eight pre-abortion risk factors, and a “MaxHarm” score reflecting the most severe negative outcome each woman reported. They also asked women to categorize their abortion decision as wanted, reluctantly accepted, unwanted, or coerced.
What the Study Found
Average RiskScale scores rose steadily across those categories: 2.46 for “wanted” abortions up to 6.68 for “coerced” ones. Overall, 84% of women who’d had abortions reported at least moderate negative reactions on one or more measures, and about a third reported a severe reaction on at least one item.
What the Study Concluded
The authors argue this supports routine pre-abortion screening for factors like ambivalence, pressure, and moral conflict, framing the absence of such screening as an ethical and legal failure of informed consent. They go further, asserting the data show “most abortions are contraindicated” and that there’s no proven psychological benefit to abortion, citing, among other things, a reanalysis of the Turnaway Study.
The study reads: “Women considering abortions should be evaluated for risk factors predictive of negative outcomes. The failure to screen for these risk factors is medical negligence. Screening and informing women of their personal risk factors as required by ethical and legal standards may lead to consideration of alternatives to abortion by women who consider the risks unacceptable.”
The authors acknowledge that the data reported are self-reported, some around 20 years following the abortion, which can leave room for memory and belief shifts.
Abortion Coercion is Common
“While many women do have repeat abortions and know exactly what they are doing, coercion is not uncommon either,” said Abby Johnson, CEO and Founder of And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries. “Nearly anyone who is being forced to do something against their will suffers some kind of negative emotions. Why wouldn’t a coerced abortion be any different? Doctors should absolutely be screening for this.”
In yet another story of a man who secretly slipped his partner abortion pills when she refused an abortion, a Toledo, OH doctor was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation for his crime. He’s just another in a long list of men who have used easy access to abortion pills for their own cowardice and self-serving interests.
Stats show that almost a third of women who have abortions do so because their partner threatens to leave them. Issues with their partner or pressure from their partner are high on the list of why women have abortions.
“So many women we help through our ministry, Loveline, report that their boyfriends or partners are pressuring them to have an abortion,” said Johnson. “They are already in a precarious state – physical, emotional, or spiritual – and being forced to have an abortion only exascerbates those feelings.”
Feeling Pressured? There is Help.
No one can force a woman to have an abortion. If you need help when facing an unplanned pregnancy, please call or text LoveLine. They are able to help with finding needed resources, counseling, and financial coaching.
Abortion is a definitive decision, and while there is hope of abortion reversal with the abortion pill (call the abortion pill reversal hotline immediately if you have taken the abortion pills and want to try to reverse it), there is no turning back with a surgical abortion. It’s a decision that will affect the rest of your life and cannot be undone.