Abortion Restrictions and Women's Mental Health Effects

Introduction

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 become pregnant without planning and are not ready to raise a child. 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 women are more likely to reject maternalism when they feel forced to raise a child they never wanted and were never prepared to raise. Denying women access to abortion creates anxiety during pregnancy, as they are uncertain about what the future holds for them and their child. Increased stress leads to worry and uncertainty, resulting in a deterioration of the mother's mental health. This literature review seeks to determine whether being denied an 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.

Mental Health Consequences of Being Denied an Abortion

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, she has made up her mind and analyzed her current situation to determine that she is not ready to raise a child (Rocca, Moseson, Gould, Foster, & Kimport, 2021). Therefore, when she is denied services, her plans are upended and she is forced to consider how she will raise the child. The pregnancy becomes a burden to the mother, and she may fail to care adequately for herself and her developing child (Qiu, Zhang, Sun, Li, & Wang, 2020).

Anxiety, stress, and depression increase as the woman develops mental health problems while being compelled 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 may resent the child, given that she was not ready to have one (Russo, 2014). Denial of abortion services can result in the rejection of maternalism when the mother does not want to raise the child. According to Russo (2014), while a mother might want to care for her child after birth, there is a significant risk that she will feel burdened, potentially placing the child at risk for cognitive, emotional, and social deficits.

Coping, Postpartum Depression, and Unwanted Pregnancy

Rocca et al. (2021) note that some women were able to cope with being denied an abortion. However, in the first months after denial, these women struggled with socioeconomic problems, physical health challenges, and concerns about their children's wellbeing. An unwanted pregnancy can lead to postpartum depression (PPD), as the woman is not ready to raise a child and struggles to cope with the additional responsibility (Qiu et al., 2020). PPD may develop particularly in women who do not receive assistance caring for the baby, especially when the pregnancy was unintended.

Conclusion

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 one. The study's findings have been challenged because the researchers compared women who had late abortions with those denied abortions (Qiu et al., 2020). This comparison nonetheless demonstrates how women's mental health is negatively affected by being denied abortion services. Women's mental health is further compromised because any unwanted pregnancy may force a woman to delay her entry into the labor market (Herd et al., 2016). Without financial security, the woman's mental health deteriorates further, as she cannot adequately provide for her child and struggles with the demands of raising one she was not prepared for.

References

Foster, D. G., Steinberg, J. R., Roberts, S. C., Neuhaus, J., & Biggs, M. A. (2015). A comparison of depression and anxiety symptom trajectories between women who had an abortion and women denied one. Psychological Medicine, 45(10), 2073–2082.

Herd, P., Higgins, J., Sicinski, K., & Merkurieva, I. (2016). The implications of unintended pregnancies for mental health in later life. American Journal of Public Health, 106(3), 421–429.

Medoff, M. (2016). Pro-choice versus pro-life: The relationship between state abortion policy and child well-being in the United States. Health Care for Women International, 37(2), 158–169.

Oluseye, A., Waterhouse, P., & Hoggart, L. (2021). 'I really wanted to abort': Desire for abortion, failed abortion and forced motherhood in South-Western Nigeria. Global Public Health, 1–14.

Qiu, X., Zhang, S., Sun, X., Li, H., & Wang, D. (2020). Unintended pregnancy and postpartum depression: A meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 110259.

Rocca, C. H., Moseson, H., Gould, H., Foster, D. G., & Kimport, K. (2021). Emotions over five years after denial of abortion in the United States: Contextualizing the effects of abortion denial on women's health and lives. Social Science & Medicine, 269, 113567.

Russo, N. F. (2014). Abortion, unwanted childbearing, and mental health. Salud Mental, 37(4), 283–291.