Printer-friendly versionThis study is not the first to link abortion with increased levels of PTSD.



Pretoria, South Africa - According to a study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, women who have experienced abortion have high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This follows findings from earlier studies linking abortion and PTSD.


The study of 155 women in South Africa who had abortions looked at symptoms before the abortion, at one month after and three months after abortion. One-month after, almost one-fifth of the women had symptoms that met the criteria for PTSD, leading the authors to note that “high rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone voluntary pregnancy termination.” At three months after the abortions, the number of women with PTSD symptoms had increased by 61% compared with before the abortion.


This study is not the first to link abortion with increased levels of PTSD. In a 2004 study published in the Medical Science Monitor, 65 % of American women who had abortions reported symptoms of PTSD, which they attributed to their abortions, and slightly over 14 % reported all the symptoms necessary for a clinical diagnosis of PTSD.  Other studies have linked abortion to higher rates of sleep disorders, which are often associated with PTSD, as well as higher rates of anxiety disorders, cardiovascular deaths, clinical depression, substance abuse, suicide, and other problems.


(Source: Sharain Suliman et. al., “Comparison of pain, cortisol levels, and psychological distress in women undergoing surgical termination of pregnancy under local anesthesia versus intravenous sedation,” BMC Psychiatry 2007, 7:24.)