Facts on Teen Abortion Risks

It may seem that a quick solution to your single daughter's pregnancy is a quiet abortion. But there are some long-term risks you need to talk about. Ask your daughter if she has had an abortion in her past. If so, talk to her about these risks...does she need counseling to help her recovery from the abortion trauma? The following list of risks to teens was published by The Elliot Institute:

• Teenagers are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last six months than are teens who have not had an abortion.[1]
  
• Teens who abort are up to 4 times more likely to commit suicide than adults who abort,[2] and a history of abortion is likely to be associated with adolescent suicidal thinking.[1]
  
• Teens who abort are more likely to develop psychological problems,[3] and are nearly three times more likely to be admitted to mental health hospitals than teens in general.[4]
  
• About 40% of teen abortions take place with no parental involvement,[5] leaving parents in the dark about subsequent emotional or physical problems.
  
• Teens are 5 times more likely to seek subsequent help for psychological and emotional problems compared to their peers who carry “unwanted pregnancies” to term.[6]
  
• Teens are 3 times more likely to report subsequent trouble sleeping, and nine times more likely to report subsequent marijuana use after abortion.[6]
  
• Among studies comparing abortion vs. carrying to term, worse outcomes are associated with abortion, even when the pregnancy is unplanned.[6]
  

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Citations

1. B. Garfinkel, et al., “Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota ,” Responding to High Risk Youth (University of Minnesota: Minnesota Extension Service, 1986)
2. M. Gissler, et. al., “Suicides After Pregnancy in Finland : 1987-94: register linkage study,” British Medical Journal, 313: 1431-1434, 1996; and N. Campbell , et. al., “Abortion in Adolescence,” Adolescence, 23:813-823, 1988.
3. W. Franz & D. Reardon, “Differential Impact of Abortion on adolescents and adults,” Adolescence, 27 (105), 172, 1992.
4. R. Somers, “Risk of Admission to Psychiatric Institutions Among Danish Women Who Experienced Induced Abortion: An Analysis Based on National Report Linkage” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Los Angeles: University of California, 1979, Disseration Abstracts International, Public Health 2621-B, Order No. 7926066)
5. “Teenage Pregnancy: Overall Trends and State-by-State Information,” Report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Washington , DC .
6. PK Coleman, “Resolution of Unwanted Pregnancy During Adolescence Through Abortion Versus Childbirth: Individual and Family Predictors and Psychological Consequences,” (2006).