Abortion and Substance Abuse - Essay Example

Abortion and substance abuse Does induced abortion cause substance abuse in women? In the recent past, scientists have focused their study on the association between drug abuse and abortion. Particularly, the link between history of abortion and history of drug and substance abuse has been sought in women. Although most studies have established strong statistical correlation between the two variables, few have analyzed the association between them. In fact, most of the research has concentrated on the ‘what’ question but few have exploited the ‘how’ question. For example, a research done on 700 women found out that those who had abortions in their first pregnancy were much more likely to engage in drug and substance abuse than those who had never had abortions. While this could be true and even sound scientifically correct at the face value, the reality is not the same. The findings do not necessarily point to the fact that the women had abortions, for example. It could be possible that these women were naturally bent on abusing drugs. This essay aims to analyze these findings with a view of bridging such loopholes. Substance abuse researchers have long concluded that women are more likely to fall into drug abuse due to stress as compared to men. In the US, for instance, drug dependence among women and girls has increased gradually since 1970 when abortion was legalized. According to Frater (2010) the increase among females in abuse of certain drugs has even surpassed the increase in men. This conclusion has been reached based on an extensive analysis of past studies and literature. It should surprise no one, therefore, that various studies have found direct correlations between drug and substance abuse and induced abortion. A more dangerous trend however is the increase in substance abuse during pregnancies. This remains a major concern because drug abuse in pregnant women has serious implications on the unborn baby and may result to poor birth outcomes. Actually, researchers on both divides of the abortion debate agree to agree that abortion is one of the most stressful and emotionally difficult events in women’s lives. More than half of women that have aborted admit having increased alcohol consumptions following abortions. A majority of these women attribute this increase in alcohol consumption to the stress related to abortion. Of importance to this analysis is the fact that an insignificant percentage of these women had prior engagement in substance abuse. Despite these findings, our judgment should not be clogged by the mere fact that various studies agree on this relationship. It should be noted that abortion on itself is not a stressful event. The implications of abortion and the resultant treatment by other parties are what lead to stress. For example, the alienation that a school dropout is given may lead her to develop stress disorders. Moreover, partly to blame for post-abortion stress is the pregnancy itself and the hormonal imbalance that it creates in women. These effects do not subdue after the abortion but continue to sustain thus leading to post-traumatic stress. Various other studies have indicated that most women who have abortions end up developing negative post-abortion reactions. It is these reactions that lead most women to engage in substance abuse in an attempt to cope with abortion related stress. A study done in 1981 found that women who had records of past abortions were more than twice as probable to be heavy drunkards. This was in contrast to their counterparts who had no such previous records of abortion. In a detoxification center in the US, researchers found that female patients were likely to have started their drug abuse problems in the same year that they had their abortions. It is reported that teenagers and youths are at a higher risk of engaging in drug abuse after having abortions compared to older women. That as it may be, however, it should not be assumed that all women who have had abortions result to substance abuse just because they had stress related to abortion. Assuming such statements would be a fallacy and a contradiction of logic. There has been no concrete study to show that this behavioral change is exclusively attributable to post abortion stress. In fact, some of the women that end up engaging in substance abuse do not necessarily do so because of the abortions. They would have done it at some point anyway. Another limitation of such assumptions is in the fact that they overlook the role of morality in all this issue. The morality and the upbringing of the people that end up abusing drugs is to a great extent influential in the decisions that the women take in regard to substance abuse. Moreover, family conflicts could be the reason for accumulation of this stress. It cannot, therefore, be assumed that abortion is the sole cause of stress in women that abuse drugs and other substances. Further, other studies have found that post pregnancy substance abuse rose in women who aborted, representing about half a million women every year. Using these figures, it can logically be projected that about 50,000 women may begin abusing drugs every year as a way of dealing with post-abortion stress. Mannion (1994) estimates that the risk of drug abuse after abortions is even higher in women that undergo multiple abortions as compared to those that have a single abortion. It is also likely that post-abortion stress may further increase the problems of substance abuse in women that had prior history of substance abuse. Other studies have also shown significantly higher rates of alcohol use and illicit drugs such as cocaine, and opiates among pregnant women who have aborted compared to pregnant women who have sustained their pregnancies. These issues have rarely been exploited by many scientists and provide a raw area of research. Nevertheless, the relationship between having past multiple abortions and actually engaging in drug and substance abuse is not clear. It is ironical that women that have had more abortions should be having more stress than women who have had it once. Even if that were the case, it remains to be seen if this stress is solely dependent on the number of past abortions that a single woman has had. Another hindrance is in the fact that data on abortions is not readily available owing to concealments by women who have had previous abortions. Though the motivation for this concealment is not known, it could be that these women fear possible backlash from the society. The Journal of Social Issues is solely dedicated to the psychological effects of elective abortion. In a recent special publication, the editor asserts the fact that all researchers are in agreement that some women experience negative reactions after having induced abortions. The debate and eventual agreement is now on the severity of these reactions, the prevalence of women and the classification of severe reactions. While some reactions may fall in the category of pathological grief, others are reported to qualify for post-traumatic stress disorders. Similar reports have been discounted by experts who posit that abortion cannot lead to post-traumatic disorders. They have even blamed political motivation as the basis for such conclusions. However, if there exists any consensus among the scientists from the two divides, it is that abortion is a stressful and emotionally difficult event in women. If this stress is not tackled, it may have negative impacts on the well-being of the women concerned. It remains debatable if substance and drug abuse is one such problem. A source of argument on these particular studies would be that they have mainly been done in the US at a time when abortion is legal. However, it is important to note that the findings would not be the same in a country where abortion is not legal. This is highly attributable to the fact that some women would not reveal the number of times they have had abortions for fear of legal implications, for example. Therefore, the findings in the US cannot be used as a generalization of the whole world. It is a known fact that drugs, and especially alcohols, are used as stress relievers. This is the same case in women who have abortions. To support or refute this hypothesis, a study of substance use by women who have had abortions may prove useful. This scrutiny can help in identifying whether substance abuse is a psychological stressor. It may also help to expound on the degree to which the stress may be limited by time. Researchers have always reported that women are more prone to fall to drug abuse after a stressful event than their male counterparts. In fact, research has shown that about 22% of women experienced substance abuse in the same year they had stress while an extra 27% reported this behavior within the following three years. However, the temporal linkage between stressful events and drug abuse may not be as strong as it had previously been thought. This is because many other factors are in play during these times of hardship. A natural and somehow logical conclusion would be to assume that higher rates of substance abuse would be present in women who have had the experience of abortion. True to this point, previous studies have found that some women attribute a direct linkage between an abortion and substance abuse in subsequent years. According to Mannion (1994) majority of women that abound in substance abuse have attributed the development to post-abortion stress. Among them, very few attested to having been engaged in drug abuse before the abortions. It is quite easy, therefore, to assume that this relationship abounds. In fact, about 30% of the women who make suicide attempts have used overdoses of drugs beforehand. These studies, however, employ random sampling in their methodology and cannot therefore be a generalization of all the women in the world. Nevertheless, they still show that some women believe they ended up engaging in substance abuse due to post-abortion stress. Although no direct linkage has been found between abortion and substance abuse, many studies have established a positive association. According to Frater (2010) it has been established that almost 70% of problem drinkers developed their habits in the first three years following a traumatic event. A 1981 study in a prenatal care center found that women with a history of multiple abortions were much more likely to be using cocaine at the time of their current pregnancy. Shocking as this facts may be, they are the truth and portray the reality that is the society. Compared to women who had previously given birth, women that had previously aborted were significantly more prone to marijuana addiction during their next pregnancies. The same links were found in another study in 1987 between the two variables of multiple abortions and substance abuse. There was no difference, however, in risk of substance abuse between women who wanted the pregnancy compared to those who did not want the pregnancy. In addition, there was no relationship between drug abuse and miscarriage or stillbirth. It is not understandable, however, how miscarriages could bear less stress than abortions on the women. Naturally, women that chose abortion should be less stressed than women who have miscarriages because it is a choice that they themselves have made. A possible reason for this discrepancy is that there are other factors that contribute to stress in women who undergo abortion other than the abortion itself. These factors should form part of the research area for a better understanding of the relationship between abortion and drug abuse. In addition, researchers sourced from the Medical College of Ohio reported that young people in their teenage years were more likely to develop drug related problems after abortions than the older women. Perhaps, the reason for this is because young girls are more likely to bow to stress and cannot handle the stressful events amicably. Older women, on the other hand, are stronger and therefore likely to overcome the stressful events on their own. Another reason could be that small girls do not have supportive husbands with whom to talk with during these stressful events. Moreover, young girls may feel unwanted when they become pregnant and the stress may lead them to have abortions. Older women on the other hand enjoy the privilege of having a husband and a large family for comfort. These studies suggest that one way of reducing abortion rates might be to decrease adolescent substance use. However, concluding in this way requires considerably more understanding than we currently have of the link between abortion and prior substance use. The nexus between abortion related drug abuse and other profound impacts such as relationship problems and health problems is an area of concern. It may also lead to job-related difficulties and the probability of injury during physical fights among partners. While these studies show evidence of a link between subsequent drug abuse and abortion, there is still a gap in the fact that past data on abortion is highly concealed. According to Balter (2000) most surveys have estimated a concealment rate of 50% of past abortions. Most women are not comfortable sharing this information with third parties and therefore, the results of such studies are not representative of the reality on the ground. The subject of abortion is always an emotive discipline, even when it involves research. Proponents of abortion will find data that is logically sufficient to support the legalization of abortion and the protagonists will also find results that condemn abortion. That being the case, researchers have always had disagreements particularly with regard to the negative impacts of abortion. However, all researchers do agree to a substantial degree that abortion leads to stress on the women that undergo it. An analysis of various studies and literature has confirmed this hypothesis to be true. Whereas a relationship between abortion and subsequent drug and substance abuse exists, it is not an exclusive one. This fact forms the bulk of contention in this respect. The fact that women who abort develop stress does not imply that the abortion is the source of the stress. Even when this is the case, it cannot be assumed that abortion is the sole contributor to the stress therein. This is an area that should be studied more if the scientists have any prospect of understanding this relationship. References Balter, L. (2000). Parenthood in America: An encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Frater, G. (2010). Our humanist heritage: A handbook for humanists. Longwood, FL: Xulon Pr. Mannion, M. T., & Post-Abortion Aftermath Conference (1993, Washington, DC). (1994). Post-abortion aftermath: A comprehensive consideration : writings generated by various experts at a "Post-Abortion Summit Conference". Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward. Read More