Restrictive abortion legislation and adverse mental health during pregnancy and postpartum.
Ann Epidemiol
; 92: 47-54, 2024 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38432536
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 (ß = 0.127, p = 0.02). These were, in turn, associated with increased risks of stress and depression symptoms during pregnancy (total indirect effects ß = 0.035, p = 0.03; ß = 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.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Abortion, Spontaneous
/
Abortion, Induced
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Epidemiol
Journal subject:
EPIDEMIOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article