A recent large-scale Canadian study has found that women who undergo abortions face a greater long-term risk of hospitalization for mental health-related conditions compared to women who carry their pregnancies to term.
The study was published last month in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Conducted by researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, the University of Sherbrooke, and McGill University, it examined health outcomes for more than 1.2 million pregnancies in Quebec between 2006 and 2022.
Of these pregnancies, 28,721 ended in induced abortion, while approximately 1.22 million resulted in live births. Researchers tracked women following their pregnancies to evaluate the likelihood of psychiatric hospitalizations in the years after, paying special attention to substance use, suicide attempts, and other serious mental health crises. The report noted that women who underwent abortions showed increased rates of “substance use disorders” and “suicide attempts” when “compared with other pregnancies.”
David Reardon, director of the pro-life Elliot Institute, stated last week that the study provides the latest evidence of a connection between abortion and serious mental health issues.
