Study: 95 Percent Of Women Don't Regret Having Abortion
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS Sacramento) -- Hardly any women regret having an abortion, according to a new study.
Research from a three-year period involving over 600 women showed that 95 percent of those who have had an abortion did not regret their decision, Time reports. The study was published last week in the multidisciplinary academic journal PLOS ONE.
Nearly 670 women were surveyed regularly over three years on the topic of their abortions. The study included women with diverse backgrounds regarding race, education, employment, and the circumstances of their pregnancies and abortions.
Forty percent of women said financial considerations were a factor in their abortion; 36 percent said it was "not the right time; 26 percent said the decision felt very or relatively easy, while 53 percent found it very or relatively difficult.
The authors note that an overwhelming majority of the women surveyed felt that they had made the right decision both short-term and over the three years. The study calls into question the claim that women suffer long-term emotional distress and unresolved doubts following abortion.
However, the authors of the study are careful to make distinctions between emotions associated with the abortion, and regretting the abortion altogether. The study concluded that post-abortion emotional reactions were common and normal, but that ultimately women did not report regret associated with the decision.
"Certainly, experiencing feelings of guilt or regret in the short-term after an abortion is not a mental health problem; in fact, such emotions are a normal part of making a life decision that many women in this study found to be difficult," the study reads, as reported by Time. "Our results of declining emotional intensity… [find] steady or improving levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, stress, social support, stress, substance use, and symptoms of depression and anxiety over time post-abortion."
About half of American women will have an unintended pregnancy, and nearly 3 in 10 will have an abortion by age 45, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
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