It’s pretty clear that women who decide to end their first pregnancies often end up needing help with their mental health, unlike those who become mothers and have their babies.

This idea comes from a recent study that looked really closely at data from Medicaid, a kind of health support in the U.S. Experts from the Charlotte Lozier Institute worked really hard to check this data and found something they’re really sure about.

They looked at information from more than 4,800 women who were part of Medicaid for about 17 years in seven states. These are places where government money was used to pay for abortion procedures.

You might be thinking, “Did these women have troubles with their mental health before this happened? Could that affect the results?” Well, it’s worth knowing that these women didn’t have any mental health problems before this. They started facing difficulties after they ended their pregnancies.

This big study got published in the important International Journal of Women’s Health. It’s the first study that takes a really good look at the mental health services that people get when they’re dealing with abortion, either as outpatients or when they have to stay in the hospital.

Now, let’s talk about what they found.

For the women who chose to end their first pregnancies (unlike those who became moms), there was a big increase in mental health help in these areas:

• Visits to the doctor that aren’t in the hospital: More than three times likely to go up.
• Going to the hospital and staying there: Almost six times more likely to go up.
• How long they stayed in the hospital: This was a surprising 19.6 times more likely to go up.

We need to understand that these results don’t just happen once in a while.

Dr. James Studnicki, who’s really experienced in public health and is a leader at CLI, tells us that studies from different countries like Finland, Italy, China, Germany, Korea, and the United States all show a link between having an abortion and facing mental health problems like feeling anxious, sad, or even thinking about hurting yourself.

In an earlier study, they also found that women who chose to end their first pregnancy:

• Had more pregnancies later on.
• Went through more miscarriages.
• Had more than four times the number of abortions.
• Only had half the number of live births.

And here’s something really sad.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute’s research shows that most women who had abortions felt like they had to do it, even if they didn’t want to. They said their decisions were forced on them, or they didn’t match what they believed in.

This makes things even more complicated and helps us understand why women who end their pregnancies might go through tough times with their mental health.