A recent study found that 61% of women who have had an abortion reported that they had faced external pressure to have the procedure done, influencing their decisions.
The study was conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), a pro-life organization that “leads the pro-life movement with groundbreaking scientific, statistical, and medical research,” in October 2022, and polled over 1,100 women aged 41-45. The study found that 61% of the women who admitted to having an abortion also noted that they had faced external pressure to do so, according to a press release from CLI. (RELATED: Charges Dropped Against Pro-Life Advocate Arrested For Silently Praying Outside Abortion Clinic)
Out of the initial respondents, 226 women said they’d had an abortion, and subsequently were asked if they had been pressured by their partners, family, for financial reasons or “other circumstances,” according to the study. The researchers also found that the women who said they had been pressured also reported higher levels of negative emotions surrounding the event.
CLI’s study pointed out that research from the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion in 2008 had also found that pressure surrounding an abortion resulted in an increase in mental health issues for the woman.
“Perceived pressures to choose abortion should be assessed before an abortion to better guide risk assessments, decision-making, and analyses of post-abortion adjustments in light of these risk factors,” CLI’s study read. “A history of abortion, especially when there was pressure to abort, is associated with more stress completing questionnaires touching on abortion experiences and with a higher dropout rate, a finding that is consistent with the view that abortion surveys are likely to underrepresent the experiences of the women who experience the most stress and negative reactions to their abortions.”
DETROIT, MI – JUNE 24: An abortion rights demonstrator bows their head as people protest the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health case on June 24, 2022, in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images).
Respondents who identified as having had an abortion were four times more likely to drop out of the study after being asked about the pressure, if any, that they faced when deciding to have an abortion, according to the study. Financial circumstances were the number one specific cause of pressure as reported by 54.6% of the respondents, with family coming in next at 34.7%.
Tessa Longbons, a senior research associate at Lozier Institute and co-author of the study, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that “choice is a convenient word” for pro-abortion advocates.
“[B]y cloaking themselves in pro-women rhetoric, abortion advocates are simply giving a wink and a nod to those boyfriends and parents and employers who value the convenience of abortion over a woman’s physical and mental well-being, which is the opposite of pro-women,” Longbons said. “Surely, the findings of our latest peer-reviewed research underscore one point on which we should all be able to agree. No woman should ever feel pressured into accepting an unwanted abortion.”
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