Study: Stress over abortion lasts years

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OSLO, Norway, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A study says women who have had an abortion experience mental distress for years after the event.

The research, published in BMC Medicine, reveals that five years after having an abortion, women suffered higher levels of mental distress than other women and women who have had a miscarriage.

Researchers from the University of Oslo in Norway and the Buskerud Hospital in Drammen, Norway, studied 40 women who had had a miscarriage and 80 women who had undergone an induced abortion.

The women were interviewed 10 days, six months, two years and five years after the pregnancy termination.

They found that women who had a miscarriage suffer more mental distress up until six months after the event than women who had an abortion. Women who had an abortion experienced more mental distress long after the event than women who had a miscarriage.