New study: Abortion causes depression, anxiety, biochemical changes with long-term effects
There is a new study pointing to the significant negative biological and behavioral consequences caused by abortion.
Behavioral neuroscientists at Franciscan University of Steubenville has released the findings in their study, “Biological, Behavioral, and Physiological Consequences of Drug-Induced Pregnancy Termination at First-Trimester Human Equivalent in an Animal Model,” examining the effect of the commonly used pregnancy termination–inducing drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, in rats in a controlled environment.
photo/ Pete Linforth
Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, the study found specimens in the abortion group suffered a loss of appetite, decreased exploratory movement, decreased self-care, and changes in vaginal impedance — a factor that appears to relate to fecundity, or the ability to reproduce — that were not present in the pregnant specimens that carried their pregnancies to term.
The findings suggest behaviors consistent with a wealth of scientific literature documenting the effects of moderate to severe stress on animal models, which scientists have long used due to the similarities in brain mechanisms between rats and humans.
“This is breaking new ground,” says Dr. Stephen Sammut, the professor of psychology at Franciscan University who led the research. “In the animal model, we observed depression-like behaviors, and we saw anxiety-like behaviors. The biochemistry indicated potentially long-term effects.”
While social stigmas were blamed by activists, “There is something more than social pressure on a person who feels depressed after an abortion,” Sammut said. “There are potential physiological consequences that have not been investigated.”
“Medical abortion researchers focused on how fast the drug could kill the baby and how much effort it would take on the part of the abortionists to handle complications,” said Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-life OB-GYNs. “This study (the first not performed by the abortion industry) raises serious concerns about mental health effects of drug-induced abortions and the differences between spontaneous and induced abortion. Such studies should have been performed long before drug-induced abortion was allowed on the market.”
“If you have a desire to seek the truth through science, science will show you the truth,” Sammut says. “What Franciscan University has enabled is the capacity for this research to take place.”
For more information about the research that Dr. Sammut is conducting at Franciscan University, and to read his publications, visit franciscan.edu/faculty/sammut-stephen/.
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