Study finds link between restricted abortion access, suicide risk in younger women

Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A new study says restricted abortion access in certain states is linked to a higher suicide risk in younger women.

The study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, found states that restricted access to abortion and reproductive care between 1974 and 2016 were associated with a heightened suicide risk among reproductive-aged women, but not for women beyond their reproductive years.

The study, which was published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, used data from each state provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers factored in individual states' laws that restricted reproductive care, while comparing suicide rates before and after those laws were enforced.

The study focused on 21 states that enforced at least one Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP law, between 1974 and 2016. After analyzing the data, researchers found enforcement of TRAP laws was associated with higher suicide rates among reproductive-aged women, especially those between 20 and 34 years of age.

"Among reproductive-aged women, the weighted average annual-state level suicide death rate when no TRAP laws were enforced was 5.5 per 100,000. Enforcement of a TRAP law was associated with a 5.81% higher annual rate of suicide than in pre-enforcement years," the study said, while pointing out research limitations including lack of access to mental health data on individual women.

"There's clearly an awful lot more that we need to understand about what these findings mean for individual suicide risk," said Rebecca Waller, co-author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's department of psychology.

"We're looking at the connection between summary data about causes of death at the state level and policy and politics over many decades," Waller said. "Yet every death represents an individual moment of tragedy."

The study, which spans data from more than 40 years ending in 2016, also does not take into account the changes to abortion restrictions in numerous states since June when the Supreme Court overturned its 1973 opinion Roe vs. Wade, ending the federally protected right to abortion procedures.