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Limiting Access to Women’s Rights to Healthcare Detrimental to Mental Health and Wellbeing

Limiting Access to Women’s Rights to Healthcare Detrimental to Mental Health and Wellbeing
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy agrees with the American Psychological Association’s concern regarding the potential that the U.S. Supreme Court will eliminate the constitutional right of women to obtain an abortion. The threat to loss of rights serves as a trauma reminder and especially so to our most marginalized women and girls who have faced historical trauma, racial trauma, microaggressions, and discrimination (National Child Traumatic Stress Network Justice Consortium, Schools Committee, & Culture Consortium, 2017). One’s ability to choose when and if to have a child is tied to their socioeconomic status and earning potential. Thus, laws restricting access to safe, legal abortions not only affect the mental health of our most vulnerable communities, they also maintain the abject marginalization and poverty cycle.
The negative impact on the mental health of women who are denied abortion is well-documented in the psychological literature. Given that nearly half of all pregnancies in this country are unintended, restricting access to safe, legal abortion will likely contribute to a serious mental health crisis, and one that will disproportionately impact women living in poverty, women of color, and those living in underserved communities.
Among women who have an unplanned pregnancy, research suggests that the relative risk for mental health difficulties is similar for those who elect to have a first-trimester abortion compared to those who deliver their pregnancy (APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion, 2008). In contrast, we further underscore the endemic effects of mental health difficulties and physical health detriments of those unable to seek legal, safe abortions. Women unable to have an abortion experience higher levels of anxiety, low self-esteem, and lower life satisfaction compared to women who are able to have an abortion (Worrell, 2022). These detrimental mental health effects are also risk factors for additional mental health difficulties and adverse outcomes, such as depression and suicide. Further, adding barriers to accessing abortion services appears to increase stress, anxiety, and depression.
Finally, overturning Roe is likely to increase state laws that limit access to reproductive health care, broadly. This is problematic because of the strong relationship between unwanted pregnancy and interpersonal violence/domestic violence, which has detrimental long-term effects on children and survivors.
In summary, ABCT highlights our concerns for the immediate and long-term detriments to mental health for our most vulnerable communities including women, and especially women with intersectional identities (e.g., women who identify as Black and Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color), gender and sexual minority identifying individuals, those living in poverty, and those living in rural communities.
References
American Psychological Association, Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. (2008). Report of the Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/mental-health-abortion-report.pdf
National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Justice Consortium, Schools Committee, & Culture Consortium. (2017). Addressing Race and Trauma in the Classroom: A Resource for Educators. Los Angeles, CA, & Durham, NC: National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
Worrell, F. C. (2022). Restricting access to abortion likely to lead to mental health harm, APA States. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2022/05/restricting-abortion-mental-health-harms
Our sincere thanks to Michelle E. Roley, Ph.D., Jessica A. Latack, Ph.D., who prepared this statement.
Photo courtesy of Mark Thomas