Same data set, but ...

Contrary to results of earlier work based on the same data set, an analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth has found no evidence that women who have an abortion to terminate an unintended first pregnancy are at greater risk of clinical depression than their counterparts who carry to term. (1) In the more recent analysis, the two groups of women did not differ either when scores on a commonly used depression scale were examined according to a standard cutoff indicating risk of depression or when scores were examined continuously. The analysts attribute the discrepancies between their findings and the earlier ones mainly to differences in coding of the data. Additionally, the analysts explored the possible indirect effects of abortion on depression. They found that on average, women who terminated a pregnancy had more education, higher incomes and smaller families than those who carried to term; all of these factors were associated with a reduced risk of depression. In conclusion, the analysts write that "if the goal is to reduce women's risk for depression, research should focus on how to prevent and ameliorate the effect of unwanted childbearing."

(1.) Schmiege S and Russo NF, Depression and unwanted first pregnancy: longitudinal cohort study, BMJ, 2005, 331(7528): 1303-1307.