British Section of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life

For many years there has been evidence of correlation between abortion and the mother’s subsequent suicide. A paper on Post Abortion Syndrome by Claire Wiles, published in CMQ in February 2007 gives 53 references to studies of psychological harm. The most unchallengeable evidence comes in the now famous paper Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health, by David M. Fergusson, L. John Howard and Elizabeth M. Ridder, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47:1 (2000), pp. 16-24. A letter in The Times on October 27 2006, signed by 15 consultants, said:

Research pubished in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry in January has shown that even women without past mental health problems are at risk of psychological ill effects after abortions. Women who had had abortions had twice the risk of major depressive illness as those who had given birth or never been pregnant.

This research has prompted the American Psychological Association to withdraw an official statement denying a link between abortion and psychological harm.

Since women having abortions can no longer be said to have a low risk of suffering from psychiatric conditions such as depression, doctors have a duty to advise about long-term adverse psychological consequences of abortion.

We suggest that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Psychiatrists revise their guidance, and that future abortion notifications clearly distinguish between physical and mental health grounds for abortion.

PATRICIA CASEY
Professor of Psychiatry,
University College, Dublin

ANDREW SIMS
Past President
Royal College of Psychiatrists

GORDON STIRRAT
Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bristol

and 12 others