Jan 14, 2020 01:25 AM
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/most-wom...40521.html
INTRO: It’s a commonly held belief among anti-abortion advocates that women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and regret. But a new study from researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) suggests this narrative may be flawed. Published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, the study originated with UCSF’s research group, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a branch of the university that aims to unpack the “complex issues” surrounding women’s reproductive health.
For this particular project, the researchers used data from the Turnaway Study, a large-scale survey of 1,000 women from abortion clinics nationwide, zeroing in on the emotions women reported feeling in the aftermath of their abortion. All 667 women — hailing from 20 different states — were asked to share their emotions one week after terminating their pregnancy, then again every six months for a total of five years.
Immediately after their abortions, over 95 percent of women said they had made the right decision — a number that increased to 99 percent at the five-year mark. Aside from extremely low levels of regret, few women expressed additional negative feelings, such as anger, guilt or sadness. One week after the abortion, 51 percent of women reported feeling mostly positive emotions (relief and happiness), while another 20 percent reported feeling few negative emotions or none at all. After five years, 84 percent of women reported experiencing either all positive emotions or no emotions, while just six percent of those polled reported primarily negative emotions.
Overall, the researchers found that high-intensity emotions about the decision to terminate — even negative ones — sharply declined over time. More than half of the respondents, for example, reported that making the decision to get an abortion was “very or somewhat difficult.” This group reported higher levels of negative emotions immediately after the procedure than those who did not find the decision difficult. But over the course of five years, this same group showed a sharp decline in negative emotions, eventually paralleling the positive emotions of women who more easily chose that path... (MORE)
RELATED (eurekalert): Five years after abortion, study finds nearly all women say it was the right decision
INTRO: It’s a commonly held belief among anti-abortion advocates that women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and regret. But a new study from researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) suggests this narrative may be flawed. Published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, the study originated with UCSF’s research group, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a branch of the university that aims to unpack the “complex issues” surrounding women’s reproductive health.
For this particular project, the researchers used data from the Turnaway Study, a large-scale survey of 1,000 women from abortion clinics nationwide, zeroing in on the emotions women reported feeling in the aftermath of their abortion. All 667 women — hailing from 20 different states — were asked to share their emotions one week after terminating their pregnancy, then again every six months for a total of five years.
Immediately after their abortions, over 95 percent of women said they had made the right decision — a number that increased to 99 percent at the five-year mark. Aside from extremely low levels of regret, few women expressed additional negative feelings, such as anger, guilt or sadness. One week after the abortion, 51 percent of women reported feeling mostly positive emotions (relief and happiness), while another 20 percent reported feeling few negative emotions or none at all. After five years, 84 percent of women reported experiencing either all positive emotions or no emotions, while just six percent of those polled reported primarily negative emotions.
Overall, the researchers found that high-intensity emotions about the decision to terminate — even negative ones — sharply declined over time. More than half of the respondents, for example, reported that making the decision to get an abortion was “very or somewhat difficult.” This group reported higher levels of negative emotions immediately after the procedure than those who did not find the decision difficult. But over the course of five years, this same group showed a sharp decline in negative emotions, eventually paralleling the positive emotions of women who more easily chose that path... (MORE)
RELATED (eurekalert): Five years after abortion, study finds nearly all women say it was the right decision
