March 20, 2000
New Study Links Abortion to Subsequent Substance Abuse
Springfield, IL -Women who have an abortion are five times more
likely to report subsequent substance abuse compared to women who
carry to term, according to a study published in the latest issue
of the prestigious American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
The study was authored by Elliot Institute director Dr. David
Reardon and Dr. Philip Ney, a British Columbia psychiatrist who
specializes in post-abortion counseling. According to the
authors, while the connection between abortion and substance abuse
has never been widely publicized, this is at least the 16th
published study connecting a history of abortion to subsequent
drug or alcohol abuse.
This latest study was drawn from a national reproductive history
survey of a random sample of 700 women, from 24 to 44 years of
age. "Even if we assume the
 lowest statistical range for the
relative risk, our results would indicate that each year, in the
United States alone, there are at least 150,000 new cases of
abortion-related substance abuse," Reardon said.
"Given the range of relative risks identified, the actual number
could be as high as 500,000 cases per year."
Ney believes these findings are especially disturbing since
substance abuse is a leading cause of neonatal death and
malformation in subsequent planned pregnancies. "I have found
that women with resolved grief or trauma related to a prior
abortion are more likely to feel anxiety, fear, and depression
during subsequent pregnancies," Ney said. "If they are
unable to legally obtain mood-altering drugs with a prescription,
many of these women resort to alcohol or illegal drugs as a means
of suppressing unwanted feelings about their past abortions."
Ney's clinical experience treating women is confirmed by several
previously published studies that have documented much higher rates of
drug and alcohol abuse among pregnant women who have a history of
abortion.
Substance abuse appears to be just one of several self-destructive
tendencies related to abortion, said Reardon. A recent major study
of death certificates and government medical records in Finland has
shown that the risk of death from suicide is six times higher for women
who have had an abortion compared to women who gave birth. The
researchers also
found that the risk of dying from accidents and homicide was four
and twelve times higher, respectively, in the year following an
abortion.
According to Reardon, the increase in accidental or
homicide-related deaths among post-abortive women is most likely due to
risk-taking behavior that is an expression of self-destructive or
suicidal tendencies. It is still unclear whether abortion
causes self-destructive behavior or whether it simply aggravates
previously existing self-destructive tendencies.
"Clearly, women with a propensity to risk-taking may be more
likely to become pregnant and perhaps more likely to choose
abortion," Reardon said. "In such cases, while abortion
may not be the primary cause of their problems, it may contribute to
their psychological deterioration. On the other hand, it is also clear
that some women who were not previously self-destructive have become so
as a direct result of their traumatic abortion experiences. At
this time, however, we have no way of knowing how many women
fall into each of these two categories."
While many proponents of abortion dispute a causal link between
abortion and substance abuse, Ney insists that his own experience in
successfully treating abortion trauma proves that this connection is far
more than a statistical fluke.
"I have treated women with a long history of self-destructive
behavior who have only made progress in overcoming these tendencies
after they had completed counseling for abortion trauma," says Ney.
"Many other therapists have had the same experience. Consistently
good results can only come from the right diagnosis and the right
treatment."
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Contact information:
David C. Reardon, Ph.D., Elliot Institute, (217)525-8202
Philip G. Ney, M.D., IIPLCARR (250) 642-1848 On-Line link to Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse article by Reardon and Ney:
http://www.dekker.com/e/p.pl/0095-2990/026/001/006/abs
For more information on this study and a list of citations and
links to other studies mentioned in this news release, go to
http://www.afterabortion.org/News/subabuse.htm |
