NCCMH Review
From News Releases
Britain's National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH)issued a review of the medical literature addressing three questions related to abortion and mental health. The review was commissioned by the Department of health after a number of studies had revealed that women who have abortions experience common disorders such as anxiety or depression at a rate about three times higher than other women.
The report did not look at the questions of (1) when, if ever, abortion contributes to mental health of women, or (2) whether abortion makes pre-existing mental health problems more severe or difficult to treat.
The scope of the review excluded reactions such as guilt, shame and regret - although these were considered important - and also assessments of mental state within 90 days of an abortion. This was because the research was not about “transient reactions to a stressful event”.
While acknowledging that women with a history of abortion have higher rates of mental illness than the general population, the director of NCCMH of Tim Kendall, said, “It could be that these women have a mental health problem before the pregnancy. On the other hand, it could be the unwanted pregnancy that's causing the problem. Or both explanations could be true. We can't be absolutely sure from the studies whether that's the case - but common sense would say it's quite likely to be both. The evidence shows though that whether these women have abortions - or go on to give birth - their risk of having mental health problems will not increase. They carry roughly equal risks. We believe this is the most comprehensive and detailed review of the mental health outcomes of abortion to date worldwide.”
Sophie Corlett, director of external relations at the mental health charity Mind, said of the report, “It is important that medical professionals are given the correct information to provide support for all women, but particularly those with a pre-existing history of mental health problems. This study makes it absolutely clear that this group is at the greatest risk of developing post-pregnancy mental health problems and should be given extra support in light of this.”
Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said, “This new review shows that abortion does not improve mental health outcomes for women with unplanned pregnancies, despite 98% of the 200,000 abortions being carried out in this country each year on mental health grounds. This means that when doctors authorize abortions in order to protect a woman's mental health they are doing so on the basis of a false belief not supported by the medical evidence. In other words the vast majority of abortions in this country are technically illegal.”