Article By Michael New Ph.D.
This summer, the journal JAMA Network Open published a study that purportedly found that abortion bans were increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts among female high school students. This study analyzed four years of Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from more than 300,000 high school students. It has been covered by a number of media outlets, including Newsweek, the 19th News, and Econofact.
Not surprisingly, there is much less here than meets the eye. The study purportedly found an increase in suicidal ideation among teenage girls who live in states with pro-life laws.
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However, there was no statistically significant increase in actual suicide attempts among teen girls who live in pro-life states. And the study failed to analyze the number of suicides that took place.
Furthermore, the study had a number of methodological limitations. While approximately twelve states have abortion bans in place, researchers were only able to analyze YRBS survey data from five of those states. Additionally, state abortion bans were in effect for only one of the four years of YRBS survey data analyzed by the researchers. Finally, the researchers failed to consider if abortion bans had a larger impact on sexually active teenagers or on older teenagers — demographics that might be more affected by an abortion ban.
There is a body of research that shows that pro-life laws improve teenage health outcomes. Various studies have found that pro-life parental involvement laws reduce suicide rates and gonorrhea rates among teens. A new National Bureau of Economics Research paper shows both a lower likelihood of sexual activity and a reduction in sex partners among teens who live in states with strong pro-life laws. Unfortunately, research that demonstrates the positive public health impact of pro-life laws receives scant attention from the mainstream media.
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Michael New is a professor at Ave Maria University. He is a former political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a fellow at Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.
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