In an article of facts from the Elliot Institute, “a major random study found that a minimum of 19% of post-abortion women suffer from diagnosable PTSD.” The article goes on to state that “this is a major disorder…a psychological dysfunction which results from a traumatic experience which overwhelms a person’s normal defense mechanisms resulting in intense fear, feelings of helplessness or being trapped, or loss of control. PTSD results when the traumatic event causes the hyper-arousal of “flight or fight” defense mechanisms.” “…these defense mechanisms become disorganized, disconnected from present circumstances, and take on a life of their own resulting in abnormal behavior and major personality disorders.”

In a research analysis by the U. S. Dept of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics it was reported that “researchers compared data for women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) who experienced their first pregnancy between 1980 and 1992. This is an ongoing nationwide interview-based study conducted by the Center for Human Research at Ohio State University and funded by the U. S. Dept of Labor. They found that on an average of eight years later, women whose first pregnancies ended in abortion were 65 percent more likely to be at high risk of clinical depression…” 

Dr. David Reardon, head of the Elliot Institute and one of the study’s authors, states “This finding contributes to the growing number of studies showing that abortion is linked to elevated rates of psychiatric illness, substance abuse, and suicidal behavior.”