Study Reveals Women Want Information on Abortion Risks.

Only a few years ago, it was an article of faith repeated uncritically by the "mainstream media" that abortion is essentially problem-free and almost completely devoid of physical, emotional, or psychological risk for women. However, a wave of methodologically sound research published in impeccable medical journals has laid that myth to rest.

Dozens of studies published in top peer-reviewed medical and psychology journals throughout the world have now documented that abortion increases risk for depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, sleep disturbances, and substance use. This is the kind of information women deserve and, judging by an article published in early August in a leading medical ethics journal, it is information they want.

"Women's preferences for information and complication seriousness ratings related to elective medical procedures" appears in the August edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics. Written by Priscilla Coleman, David Reardon, and Matthew Lee, the study of a diverse sample of 187 largely low-income women seeking obstetric and gynecological services found that they overwhelmingly wanted to be informed of all known risks associated with elective procedures in general and with abortion in particular.

Once women had consented to participate, they were given a short survey while in the waiting room. The goals of the researchers included "to measure female patients' preferences for information regarding elective medical procedures"; "to assess how seriously women viewed a wide range of possible complications associated with elective medical procedures"; and "to compare women's preferences for information related to elective obstetric or gynecological procedures with other elective procedures."

The study revealed that 95% of the women surveyed at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, expressed a desire to be informed of all possible complications associated with elective medical procedures, including abortion. This was found to be true regardless of how common or uncommon the particular complications were.

Participants in the study ranked the seriousness of different kinds of physical and mental health complications associated with an elective medical procedure. Interestingly, these women rated the well-established psychological risks of abortion (such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts) as very serious. In fact, women rated mental health consequences only slightly below the risk of death or heart disease.

The 187 women also indicated that they would like to receive the same amount of information for an abortion as they would for any other elective medical procedure. Moreover, women do not want doctors to screen information about abortion risks.