{"id":13184,"date":"2024-03-21T18:23:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T18:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=13184"},"modified":"2024-03-21T18:23:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T18:23:22","slug":"living-in-an-abortion-ban-state-is-bad-for-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=13184","title":{"rendered":"Living in an abortion ban state is bad for mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The false idea that getting an abortion<\/a> makes women irreparably depressed and anxious, that it causes a deep psychic wound, has for decades<\/a> been used by anti-abortion activists to support abortion restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the argument is entirely based on anecdotes, personal beliefs, and vibes. No good science<\/a> has demonstrated this link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not because nobody\u2019s tried to answer the question of what the mental health<\/a> impacts of abortion are on the women who obtain them. It\u2019s because the answer to that question, over and over again, is: none. In study<\/a> after study<\/a>, researchers have consistently shown that getting an abortion does not cause mental health problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What doesreliably worsen women\u2019s mental health, however, is banning or restricting abortion access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wealth of research has shown that when people are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies, it negatively impacts<\/a> their physical health<\/a> and finances<\/a> \u2014 and mental health. In a survey conducted before the US Supreme Court<\/a> overturned the constitutional right to abortion, women living in states with more abortion restrictions had higher rates of mental distress<\/a>. In another study, states enforcing abortion restrictions between 1974 and 2016 had higher suicide rates<\/a> in women of childbearing age in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade <\/em>in 2022<\/a>, it wasn\u2019t making a decision grounded in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we\u2019re more than a year and a half into living with the consequences. And when it comes to women\u2019s mental health, the fallout is following the exact pattern scientists predicted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Using data gathered as part of US Census Household Pulse<\/a> surveys, the researchers looked at respondents\u2019 self-reported anxiety and depression scores from about six months before and six months after the Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. They compared scores on a scale of zero to 12 among people in states with and without trigger bans<\/a>, abortion restrictions that went into effect as soon as the Supreme Court issued its ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they found was, frankly, predictable: Before the Court\u2019s decision, anxiety and depression scores were already higher in trigger states \u2014 a population-wide average of 3.5 compared with 3.3 in non-trigger states. After the decision, that difference widened significantly, largely due to changes in the mental health of women 18 to 45, what the authors defined as childbearing age. Among this subgroup, anxiety and depression scores subtly ticked up<\/a> in those living in trigger states (from 4.62 to 4.76) \u2014 and dropped in those living in non-trigger states (from 4.57 to 4.49). There was no similar effect in older women, nor in men.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/24071802\/abortion-roe-overturn-trigger-ban-states-mental-health<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The false idea that getting an abortion makes women irreparably depressed and anxious, that it causes a deep psychic wound, has for decades been used by anti-abortion activists to support abortion restrictions.
\nBut the argument is entirely based on anecdotes, personal beliefs, and vibes. No good science has demonstrated this link.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not because nobody\u2019s tried to answer the question of what the mental health impacts of abortion are on the women who obtain them. It\u2019s because the answer to that question, over and over again, is: none. In study after study, researchers have consistently shown that getting an abortion does not cause mental health problems.<\/p>\n

What does reliably worsen women\u2019s mental health, however, is banning or restricting abortion access.<\/p>\n

A wealth of research has shown that when people are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies, it negatively impacts their physical health and finances \u2014 and mental health. In a survey conducted before the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, women living in states with more abortion restrictions had higher rates of mental distress. In another study, states enforcing abortion restrictions between 1974 and 2016 had higher suicide rates in women of childbearing age in particular.<\/p>\n

But when the court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, it wasn\u2019t making a decision grounded in science.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re more than a year and a half into living with the consequences. And when it comes to women\u2019s mental health, the fallout is following the exact pattern scientists predicted.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Using data gathered as part of US Census Household Pulse surveys, the researchers looked at respondents\u2019 self-reported anxiety and depression scores from about six months before and six months after the Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. They compared scores on a scale of zero to 12 among people in states with and without trigger bans, abortion restrictions that went into effect as soon as the Supreme Court issued its ruling.<\/p>\n

What they found was, frankly, predictable: Before the Court\u2019s decision, anxiety and depression scores were already higher in trigger states \u2014 a population-wide average of 3.5 compared with 3.3 in non-trigger states. After the decision, that difference widened significantly, largely due to changes in the mental health of women 18 to 45, what the authors defined as childbearing age. Among this subgroup, anxiety and depression scores subtly ticked up in those living in trigger states (from 4.62 to 4.76) \u2014 and dropped in those living in non-trigger states (from 4.57 to 4.49). There was no similar effect in older women, nor in men.” <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/24071802\/abortion-roe-overturn-trigger-ban-states-mental-health<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[521,81,1874,1330,759],"class_list":["post-13184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-abortion","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-psychology","tag-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13185,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184\/revisions\/13185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}