1. Restrictive abortion legislation and adverse mental health during pregnancy and postpartum.
- Author
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McKetta S, Chakraborty P, Gimbrone C, Soled KRS, Hoatson T, Beccia AL, Reynolds CA, Huang AK, and Charlton BM
- Subjects
- Female, Humans, Pregnancy, Mental Health, Postpartum Period, Pregnancy, Unplanned, Abortion, Induced psychology, Abortion, Spontaneous
- Abstract
Purpose: To determine the impact of abortion legislation on mental health during pregnancy and postpartum and assess whether pregnancy intention mediates associations., Methods: We quantified associations between restrictive abortion laws and stress, depression symptoms during and after pregnancy, and depression diagnoses after pregnancy using longitudinal data from Nurses' Health Study 3 in 2010-2017 (4091 participants, 4988 pregnancies) using structural equation models with repeated measures, controlling for sociodemographics, prior depression, state economic and sociopolitical measures (unemployment rate, gender wage gap, Gini index, percentage of state legislatures who are women, Democratic governor)., Results: Restrictive abortion legislation was associated with unintended pregnancies (β = 0.127, p = 0.02). These were, in turn, associated with increased risks of stress and depression symptoms during pregnancy (total indirect effects β = 0.035, p = 0.03; β = 0.029, p = 0.03, respectively, corresponding <1% increase in probability), but not after pregnancy., Conclusions: Abortion restrictions are associated with higher proportions of unintended pregnancies, which are associated with increased risks of stress and depression during pregnancy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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