Academy of Medical Royal Colleges review says some women suffer mental health problems after abortion

The Review on Induced Abortion and MentalHealth issued earlier this month by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges came to some controversial conclusions but also stated that women in certain categories are more likely to suffer mental health problems after an abortion.


The most revealing feature of the review is the fact that there is no mental health benefit to women from abortion. At a single stroke this cuts the ground from under the medical rationale for the most used reason for availing of abortion under Britain’s legislation. We already know abortion is never in the best interests of the unborn child. Now we know for a fact it is not in the best interests of the mother either.


The way the Review was presented helped create the false impression that whether a woman opted for an abortion or continued with the pregnancy it posed the same risk to her mental health. This is not the case.


Elements of the Review have been criticised by Dr. Priscilla Coleman MD, author of Abortion and mental health, a study published in September of this year which comprised a meta-analysis of 22 studies, examining 877,000 pregnancies.  Dr. Patricia Casey, Professor of Psychiatry at University College Dublin has also commented on the Review stating that it acknowledges that "there are certain groups who are likely to develop mental healthproblems following abortion. This is in keeping with some of the most up-to-date peer-reviewed findings showing the negative effects of abortion for some women."

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