Abortion Increases Risk of Subsequent Child Abuse
BY NRL News Staff

Does maternal abortion history increase the risk of child abuse? A new study recently published in the Scandinavian medical journal Acta Paediatrica suggests the answer is "yes," supporting what pro-lifers have suspected for years.

Priscilla Coleman and Charles Maxey of Bowling Green State University, Vincent Rue of the Pregnancy Loss Institute, and Catherine Coyle of Edgewood College analyzed data from the Fertility and Contraception among Low-Income Child Abusing and Neglecting Mothers in Baltimore, MD study. Among the 518 study participants were 118 mothers who had been identified by Child Protective Services as having physically abused their children or as having allowed someone else to do so and 281 mothers with no known history of child maltreatment.

Interviews and observations were conducted in the participants' homes and comparisons were made between women without a history of perinatal loss and women with one loss (voluntary or involuntary) relative to risk for child physical abuse.

The results showed striking differences for abortion versus miscarriage/stillbirth. Specifically, compared to women with no history of induced abortion, those with one prior abortion had a 144% higher risk for child physical abuse. By contrast, if the woman had a history of one miscarriage or stillbirth there was no enhanced risk for physically abusing a later born child.

One of the frequently uttered claims of those who support abortion is that abortion will result in fewer unwanted children and should therefore result in a reduction in child maltreatment. Ironically, just the opposite seems to be occurring.

One of the assumptions is that because a woman has freely chosen to abort, she--and her subsequent children--would not be negatively affected. But more recent research on the psychological effects of abortion suggests that women who abort often are, at a minimum, ambivalent, if not also under pressure from others to abort.

A handful of earlier studies identified a correlation between maternal history of abortion and problematic parenting. This includes lower emotional support and heightened risk for both child abuse and neglect.

However, this new study is considered stronger than previous reports linking abortion to child maltreatment because the researchers were able to control for demographic, personal, and social factors found to be related to child physical abuse (frequent residential moves, number of children, worries regarding income, education, age, history of depression, and binge drinking, among other factors).

When asked by NRL News to explain the findings, Dr. Priscilla Coleman, associate professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University and the study's lead author, noted, "Emotional problems and unresolved grief responses associated with the abortion could hinder effective parenting by reducing parental responsiveness to child needs, interfering with parent-child attachment processes, or by instilling anger, a common symptom of grief."

Dr. Coleman told NRL News, "There are unique aspects of abortion which may lead to more difficulty with subsequent parenting." She pointed out that because abortion is voluntary, many women may experience a considerable amount of guilt, with moral or religious conflicts likely to precipitate such feelings. Guilt has been estimated to range from 29% to over 75% in post-abortive women.

Coleman further noted that professionals who work with women who have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth are inclined to encourage healing focusing on the loss of the fetus. Unfortunately this is rarely a part of routine post-abortion care.

Finally, feelings of shame and secrecy that often surround an abortion experience render it more difficult for women to reach out to others for needed support. There are actually a few studies indicating that women who abort, when compared to those who miscarry, are more inclined to experience long-lasting adverse psychological problems.

Coleman told NRL News that this sample was comprised of predominantly single, low-income women, with limited education (59% had 11 or fewer years of formal education). She cautioned against applying these results to women more generally.

Coleman emphasized the need for a large-scale nationally representative data collection effort to see if the findings reported hold up with a more diverse, larger sample. If other studies replicate these findings, she recommended that more effort be directed toward helping women restore their emotional health following an abortion.

"Investment in such programs is likely to improve women's lives and increase the likelihood that their future families will be violence-free," Coleman said. "Not all women who have abortions will mistreat a later born child, but the risk is higher and merits more focused attention."

Coleman, P. K., D. C. Maxey, C. Coyle, and V. Rue. "Associations between voluntary and involuntary forms of perinatal loss and child maltreatment among low income, single mothers." Acta Paediatrica 94 (2005).