Abortion, Substance Abuse Linked
Tuesday August 31, 2004
Women who choose to end their first accidental pregnancy with abortion, instead of carrying their pregnancy full term, are much more likely to end up abusing drugs and alcohol, according to research published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
Many studies have linked abortion to substance abuse, but this study is the first to compare women who terminated their first unintended pregnancy with those who did not. The research included woman who had no history of substance abuse prior to their first accidental pregnancy.
According to the published study:
- 18.6 percent of women who got abortions used marijuana, compared to 7.9 percent of women who did not get abortions.
- Five percent of those who had abortions abused cocaine, compared to only two percent of women who did not.
- 8.4 percent who had abortions reported they thought they were becoming alcoholics, compared to 4.5 percent who did not have abortions.
Source: Reardon, D.C., et al. "Substance Use Associated with Unintended Pregnancy Outcomes in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth." The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 2004, Vol. 30, No. 2, Pages 369-383
This story is stupid. Just because you had an abortion doesn’t mean you are going to become adicted to drugs. Most likely the women was already addicted to drugs and got pregnant and thought it would be best for herself and the baby if she aborted it.
Buddy – could you provide a little more information to help us find the study itself.
You state, “The research included woman who had no history of substance abuse prior to their first accidental pregnancy.” Does this mean that the research was LIMITED to women with no history of substance abuse? Or is it equally plausible that substance abuse leads to unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
That a link has been established seems clear enough, but whether there is a causal connection (in either direction) would be interesting to know – and is not substantiated here.
I added a link to the original source article.