With the 2021 Tokyo Olympics underway, several female track athletes have been barred from competition. One Olympic gold medalist, Brianna McNeal, missed a mandatory drug test months ago and recently revealed that it was due to her abortion two days prior. McNeal was lying in bed recovering “under mental and physical trauma” and was “physically and emotionally drained” when the anti-doping official came to her home.
Retired Olympian Sanya Richards-Ross had an abortion just one day before leaving for the 2008 Beijing Games. She later stated, “I literally don’t know another female track and field athlete who hasn’t had an abortion — and that’s sad.” Sanya made it clear that it was her desire to help young women avoid the experience she and McNeal had gone through and claimed similar experiences could be avoided through improved sexual education.
The mental health and abortion controversy has been hotly contested by pro-life and pro-choice advocates, but as a stressful life event, it is certain to have ill repercussions. McNeal and Richards-Ross are just two of the thousands of women who experience the psychological and emotional shocks of induced pregnancy termination.
The majority of states have abortion-related informed consent laws, which require the disclosure of the potential risks associated with abortion. Twenty-two states have informed consent laws that require abortion providers to discuss the possible emotional and psychological responses to abortion with their patients. Eight states require abortionists to disclose information on the potential negative mental health reactions to the procedure. The three states with the highest rates of abortion (New York, New Jersey, and Maryland) lack any form of abortion-specific informed consent laws. Planned Parenthood, the “largest single provider of abortions” in the United States, consistently opposes abortion informed consent laws.
The association between abortion and an increase in mental health problems is statistically significant. Abortion interrupts the hormonal cycle in a similar way to a miscarriage. Women who have had an abortion are consistently shown to be at a greater risk of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, grief, suicidal tendencies, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Prior mental health status, exposure to traumatic events, and low support levels may explain part but not all of the negative effects that correlate with having an abortion. For example, abortion also places women at an increased risk for substance abuse disorders.
Abortion is a complex emotional event that should be recognized as potentially harmful to women. Our culture tends to brush aside the notion of a maternal instinct that causes women to experience negative psychological and emotional responses to their abortions. But this is real, and the women who experience it should not be minimized, but acknowledged.
Every woman contemplating abortion should be well informed about its clearly documented risk of negative psychological effects. Abortion providers in every state should be obligated to inform a pregnant woman that choosing to terminate the life of her unborn embryo or fetus could significantly affect her mental health. All feminists, whether pro-life or pro-choice, should welcome opportunities to provide women with meaningful and important information regarding their reproductive health.
Emily Gerlach is a policy intern for Feminists Choosing Life of New York.
