Summary: Abortion and Higher Anxiety Disorder Rates

Among women with unintended pregnancies, those who have aborted tend to have higher rates of subsequent generalized anxiety than those who carried to term.

• According to a study published by the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, there may be a relationship between abortion and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The 1995 National Survey of Family Growth V was used to analyze the risk of generalized anxiety following unintended pregnancies ending in childbirth or abortion. The study found that among all women with unintended pregnancies, those who have aborted tended to have higher rates of subsequent generalized anxiety than those women who carried their children to term.¹

¹Generalized Anxiety Following Unintended Pregnancies Resolved Through Childbirth and Abortion: A Cohort Study of the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2005, 19:137-142.