Teen Abortion not Linked to Depression

Sunday 26th September 2010

A new study, conducted by researchers in California and Oregon, has shown that teenagers who choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy are not more likely to develop depression or to suffer from low self-esteem than their teenage counterparts who opt to continue with pregnancy.

Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California analyased questionnaires returned by 289 adolescents and found that teenagers who had opted to undergo an abortion were not any more pre-disposed to depression immediately or in the five years following their termination than teenagers who had carried their pregnancy to term.

Lead researcher Jocelyn Warren claims that the study 'fills a gap' in abortion research and supports the American Psychological Association's earlier findings that abortion did not seemed to be linked to a higher incidence of mental illness in women.

However the report's authors do note that abortion is a sensitive topic, and emotional responses to abortion are likely to vary between individual women choosing to undergo the procedure.

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