Psychological Impact of Abortion Denial

How Does Abortion Restrictions Affect Women’s Mental Health?

It is estimated worldwide that 48 percent of all pregnancies are unintended (Oluseye, Waterhouse, & Hoggart, 2021). A majority of unintended pregnancies are also unwanted. Unwanted pregnancies have a significant impact on women’s mental health and wellbeing. The need for abortion services increases since most women get pregnant without planning and are not ready to raise a baby. In countries that restrict abortion, there has been a 50% increase in the procurement of abortion services for unintended pregnancies (Herd, Higgins, Sicinski, & Merkurieva, 2016). When women are forced to carry a pregnancy to term, adverse socioeconomic outcomes increase the risk of mental health problems. Many of the women will more likely reject maternalism since they feel forced to raise a child they never wanted and were never prepared to raise in the first place. Denying women abortion creates anxiety when pregnant since they are uncertain of what the future holds for them and the baby. Increased stress on the mother leads to worry and uncertainty, resulting in the mother’s mental health deterioration. The current literature review seeks to determine if being denied abortion negatively affects a pregnant woman’s mental health and how states with restrictive abortion laws affect the mental health of women who are uncertain about becoming mothers.

Having a higher chance of being denied an abortion will negatively affect a pregnant woman’s mental health

According to Oluseye et al. (2021) when a woman is denied an abortion, the chances of her mental health deteriorating increase because she was not prepared to have the child and does not know what she will do next. By the time a woman seeks abortion services, they have made up their mind and analyzed their current situation to determine they are not ready to raise the child (Rocca, Moseson, Gould, Foster, & Kimport, 2021). Therefore, when they are denied the services, their whole world crashes, and they are forced to plan how they will raise the child. The pregnancy becomes a burden to the mother, and she might fail to care for herself and the growing child inside of her (Qiu, Zhang, Sun, Li, & Wang, 2020). Anxiety, stress, and depression increase, and the woman develops mental health problems since she has to carry the pregnancy to term. Forced motherhood has been linked to poor mental health and socioeconomic outcomes for women (Oluseye et al., 2021). The mother will resent the child since she was not ready to have a child (Russo, 2014). Denial of abortion services results in the rejection of maternalism since the mother does not want to raise the child. According to Russo (2014) while the mother might want to take care of her child after birth, the chances are that she will feel burdened by the child, and she might place the child at risk for cognitive, emotional, and social deficits.

Rocca et al. (2021) posit some women were able to cope with being denied an abortion. However, in the first months after being denied an abortion, the women struggled with socioeconomic problems, physical health, and their children’s wellbeing. An unwanted pregnancy could lead to postpartum depression since the woman is not ready to raise the child and struggles to cope with the additional responsibility of raising the child (Qiu et al., 2020). PPD might develop in women who do not receive assistance caring for the baby, primarily if the pregnancy was not intended.

Having states with restrictive abortions laws will affect the mental health of women who are unsure about becoming mothers

States with restrictive abortion laws deny women the chance to choose if they want to keep the pregnancy or not. Without a choice of abortion, women are forced to give birth to children they are not prepared to raise or do not have the financial ability to raise (Medoff, 2016). With restrictive abortion laws, women have to bear the brunt of these laws since they are the ones who have to carry and care for the child. Therefore, if the woman was not ready to have a child, she might seek illegal abortion services, placing her life in danger (Oluseye et al., 2021). Women in states with pro-life laws were far less likely than men to have college degrees, work in white-collar jobs, or start a business (Medoff, 2016). These women are forced to bear children when they are not ready, and the consequences are dire. The women do not have the finances to raise the child, leading them to worry more about how they will provide for the child, and some even wonder why they are forced to bring a child to this world when they are not prepared (Herd et al., 2016). The states do not offer the woman any assistance when raising the child, increasing her depression since she cannot support the child.

Interestingly, Foster, Steinberg, Roberts, Neuhaus, and Biggs (2015) discovered that women denied an abortion had similar depression symptoms as women who received an abortion. However, anxiety symptoms were higher for women denied an abortion than those who had an abortion. The study results have been challenged because the researchers compared women who had late abortions with those denied abortions (Qiu et al., 2020). This demonstrates how the mental health of women is negatively impacted by being denied an abortion. Women’s mental health is affected since any unwanted pregnancy means the woman will have to delay her entry into the labor market (Herd et al., 2016). Without financial security, the woman’s mental health is negatively affected because she cannot provide for her child and struggles to raise the child.