Mental Health Disorders: Article Analysis

The article, “Study: Abortion increases rate of mental health disorders,” discusses the controversy about if abortion increases the risk of mental health disorders. The article explains the pro-life argument that abortions increase the risk of women having psychological problems. Evidence shows that this conclusion is inconsistent because much of the data is scarce. The essay explains how researchers have not been able to reliably track the effects of abortion due to lack of termination reports in specific states and flaws in statistics. A professor, Paul Sullins, conducted a recent study regarding four different groups of women and comparing them to seven mental health issues. His study took into consideration problems such as rape, violence,
and hormonal effects from the pregnancy. The results presented that women who have had abortions are the most likely to present a risk for psychological disorders. Sullins states that no study has ever shown benefits from having an abortion.
In relation to my research question regarding reason for the discrepancy between the pro-life and pro-choice, I found that the article displayed some of the reasons for why this issue is present. With state abortions not being reported accurately, pro-life groups are not able to support the scientific evidence that this procedure can cause harmful consequences. On the other hand, pro-choice groups are not able to support their view that abortions are not destructive to the mother. My evaluation of this article is that it provides evidence that abortions can increase the risk of mental health disorders. In the present study that Sullins conducted, he shows that “not one single study has documented mental health benefits of having an abortion.” He found that women who have had abortions were at the highest risk of having a mental disorder in comparison to other groups. Pro-choice groups argue with this conclusion that research fails to regard previous health problems. The study that Sullin conducted proves that even with a medical history, abortions are associated with a high risk for a mental disorder. With scientific evidence proving that abortions are harmful to mothers, why does the question remain present regarding the reason for conflict between the pro-abortion and pro-choice?
In my opinion, the real debate is whether having an abortion or carrying to term will result in less psychological damage. The evidence from the article brings up a point that people believe that having an abortion will “result in less anxiety, constraint, pain, and mental distress than will bringing a pregnancy to term.” Sullin’s statement can be argued in some situations that having an abortion will cause more mental damage in comparison to the struggles of caring for an unwanted child or one with a medical condition. In my opinion, this is the real debate between the pro-life and the pro-choice groups. In any situation regarding whether to have an abortion, the debate is which decision will cause the least amount of mental and emotional pain for the female. The unborn child always comes into conflict, but from a psychological perspective we focus on the well-being of ourselves. My evaluation of the article is that is directly applies to my question about the discrepancy on the debates of the psychological effects of abortion. The article brought an interesting standpoint to focusing more on the effects of women than the assumed focus of an unborn child. The essay introduced both standpoints to give the reader the opportunity to question scientific evidence and our focus on the avoidance of
suffering.