Substance Abuse Among Pregnant Women
Linked to Prior
Abortion in New Study
Springfield, IL (Dec. 2002) -- Women with a prior history of abortion are twice as
likely to use alcohol, five times more likely to use illicit drugs, and
ten times more likely to use marijuana during the first pregnancy they
carry to term compared to other women delivering their first pregnancies,
according to a study published in this month's issue of the American
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The researchers conclude that
higher rates of substance use during the subsequent pregnancies would place
the newborn children of these women at higher risk of congenital defects,
low birth weight, and death.
The research is based on the National Pregnancy and Health Survey, using
a nationally representative sample of 2,613 women who had recently given
birth. The survey was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the Division
of Epidemiological and Prevention Research at the National Institute on
Drug Abuse for the purpose of providing the first national assessment of
licit and illicit drug use and alcohol consumption among pregnant women.
According to one of the study's authors, David Reardon, Ph.D., who specializes
in the study of post-abortion reactions, this is the seventeenth
study linking abortion to elevated rates of substance abuse.
It is the first study based on a nationally representative sample, however, to show
higher rates of drug and alcohol use during subsequent pregnancies.
According to Reardon, who directs the Elliot Institute and is co-author
of the new book, Forbidden Grief: The
Unspoken Pain of Abortion, many women use drugs and alcohol to
cope with unresolved emotional issues related to past abortions.
Since unaddressed trauma and feelings of loss, grief and guilt may become more intense
during a subsequent pregnancy, women may be more likely to turn to drugs or
alcohol to cope.
The researchers recommend that obstetricians should screen pregnant
women for a prior history of abortion and substance abuse in order to make
better recommendations for counseling.
"Counseling that addresses only
the surface problems of the woman's substance abuse may fail to give her
the help she needs to truly overcome this problem." Reardon said.
This is the fifth study documenting emotional problems linked to abortion
to be published this year. The Elliot Institute has participated in all
five. The other studies have linked abortion to higher rates of long term
increased need for mental health treatments,
death rates (including death from suicide), and poor
bonding with and parenting of later children. The American Journal
of Obstetrics and Gynecology is one of the most respected and influential
medical journals in the United States.
# # #
Coleman PK, Reardon DC, Rue VM, Cougle JR. History of induced abortion
in relation to substance use during pregnancies carried to term.
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. December 2002; 187(5).
news on post-abortion research