Consequences of teen pregnancy
and abortion::

Complications

Long-term Health - Physical and Emotional

Suicide

General consequences of abortion::

Long-Term Physical Health

 

SUICIDE

Of 5,620 people counseled by Suiciders Anonymous in a 35-month period in the Cincinnati, Ohio area: 4,000 were women; 1,800 had abortions, of whom 1,400 were between 15-24 years old.
M. Uchtman, Ohio Director of Suiciders Anonymous Report to the Cincinnati City Council, Sept. 1, 1981

 

A teenage girl is 10 times more likely to attempt suicide if she has had an abortion in the last six months than is a comparable teenage girl who has not had an abortion.
Garfinkel, et al., Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Extension Service, 1986)

 

Adolescents attempted suicide on the perceived due date for their aborted child.
Adolescent Suicide Attempts Following elective Abortion, C. Tischler, Pediatrics 68 (5):670, 1981

 

A Canadian study of pain in women during first trimester abortion by suction curettage under local anesthesia found that severe acute pain similar to the pain of childbirth or from cancer can occur. Pain scores were significantly higher for younger patients aged 13-17 compared to older women. Severe acute pain was more likely to occur if women were anxious before or after the abortion or if they reported depression or had moral or social concerns about abortion.
Pain of First Trimester Abortion: A study of Psychological and medical predictors, E. Belanger, R. Melzack, P. Lauzon, Pain 36: 339-350, 1989

 

Almost all adolescent subjects experienced the abortion procedure as frightening, dangerous, and punitive, and often as temporarily overwhelming.
Therapeutic Abortion During Adolescence: Psychiatric Observations, P. Barglow and S. Weinstein, Journal of Youth and Adolescence 2 (4): 331, 1973

 

Women who aborted as teenagers compared to women who aborted at twenty years of age or older, were less satisfied with services at the time of the abortion, were more likely to feel forced by circumstances to have the abortion, were more likely to report being misinformed, more often reported severe psychological distress, and more often wanted to give birth and keep the baby.
Differential Impact on Abortion on Adolescents and Adults, W. Franz and D. Reardon, Adolescence 105:162-172, 1992

 

In a study of 74 adolescent males in Ontario, Canada of their attitudes toward adolescent pregnancy and fatherhood, all males wished to be told if a pregnancy occurred, whether or not they were in a casual or serious dating relationship.
Attitudes of Adolescent Males Toward Pregnancy and Fatherhood, Marcia A. Redmond, Family Relations, Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies 34 (3):337-341, July 1985

 

About 80% of pregnant adolescents in a young mothers program did not properly predict their mother’s reaction to her pregnancy. The negative response they anticipated occurred but later resolved itself in acceptance.
The Adolescent and Pregnancy, M-A Corbett and J.H. Meyer, (Boston: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1987) 267-269

 

Women who had abortions were seven times more likely to commit suicide than women who gave birth.
Elliot Institute Study, Southern Medical Journal 8/2003

 

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