ReviewSAGE open medicine2018
The abortion and mental health controversy: A comprehensive literature review of common ground agreements, disagreements, actionable recommendations, and research opportunities.
Review in SAGE open medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Integrating aqli (rationale) and naqli (revealed) knowledge in AI-driven clinical decision support systems to enhance healthcare delivery for guiding termination of pregnancy among Muslim patients: a systematic review (1).BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Pooled it
- The role of art therapy on quality of life of women with recent pregnancy loss: A randomized clinical trial.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Effect of hope therapy on psychological well-being of women after abortion: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Article
- Trends and risk factors for physical and psychological sequelae of induced abortion: a cross-sectional study of contemporary women in the Republic of Korea.Osong public health and research perspectives · 2025Article
- A Forensic Investigation and Critique of Suicidal Ideation Reported in a Turnaway Study.The Linacre quarterly · 2025Article
- Cardiometabolic Risk Clusters and Their Reproductive Correlates: A Latent Class Analysis of Indian Women.Global heart · 2025Article
- First assessment of the health status of pregnant women, detection of prevalence and risk factors associated with enzootic ovine abortion disease among pregnant women in southern Benin.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Health care providers' knowledge and associated factors towards the components of post abortion care service in hospitals of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Psychology of Abortion: A Qualitative Exploration of Women's Quality of Life after Termination of Pregnancy Service Provision.Rwanda journal of medicine and health sciences · 2024Article
- The support group impact on enhancing the self-worth of women who terminated a pregnancy in adolescence.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2023Article
- "I would love for there not to be so many hoops … ": recommendations to improve abortion service access and experiences made by Indigenous women and 2SLGTBQIA+ people in Canada.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Article
- Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Abortion in Iran: Evidence From a Nationally Representative Survey.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2023Article
- Progesterone-mediated reversal of mifepristone-induced pregnancy termination in a rat model: an exploratory investigation.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The impact of the second COVID-19 lockdown on anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnant women: A case study of pregnant women in northern Italy.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- The Effects of Abortion Decision Rightness and Decision Type on Women's Satisfaction and Mental Health.Cureus · 2023Article
- Article
- Help-seeking behavior among miscarrying women with and without post-miscarriage health problems in Ghana.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Maternal psychological distress and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public hospitals, Ethiopia.PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The abortion and mental health controversy is driven by two different perspectives regarding how best to interpret accepted facts. When interpreting the data, abortion and mental health proponents are inclined to emphasize risks associated with abortion, whereas abortion and mental health minimalists emphasize pre-existing risk factors as the primary explanation for the correlations with more negative outcomes. Still, both sides agree that (a) abortion is consistently associated with elevated rates of mental illness compared to women without a history of abortion; (b) the abortion experience directly contributes to mental health problems for at least some women; (c) there are risk factors, such as pre-existing mental illness, that identify women at greatest risk of mental health problems after an abortion; and (d) it is impossible to conduct research in this field in a manner that can definitively identify the extent to which any mental illnesses following abortion can be reliably attributed to abortion in and of itself. The areas of disagreement, which are more nuanced, are addressed at length. Obstacles in the way of research and further consensus include (a) multiple pathways for abortion and mental health risks, (b) concurrent positive and negative reactions, (c) indeterminate time frames and degrees of reactions, (d) poorly defined terms, (e) multiple factors of causation, and (f) inherent preconceptions based on ideology and disproportionate exposure to different types of women. Recommendations for collaboration include (a) mixed research teams, (b) co-design of national longitudinal prospective studies accessible to any researcher, (c) better adherence to data sharing and re-analysis standards, and (d) attention to a broader list of research questions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.