Mental health risks are higher with pregnancy and delivery as well. Risk of postpartum depression is approximately 10% but can range from 7% to 30% depending on how it’s measured, and prenatal depression occurs among about 10% of pregnant women as well. Similar rates do not exist among women who electively terminate pregnancies. Women who have abortions certainly may experience sadness, grief and other negative emotions, and some do develop depression and anxiety, but there is no evidence that the depression and anxiety is connected to having an abortion. In fact, those most likely to experience depression or anxiety are women with a prior history of mental health problems or women who had little support for their choice, needed to be secretive about it or faced stigma related to it.
Many of the supposed long-term risks of abortion, meanwhile, have been thoroughly debunked.