KEY POINTS:
Young women who have abortions gain higher educational achievement than those who continue with their pregnancies, new research says.
A group of 492 female participants who became pregnant between the ages of 15 and 21 were included in the report, with evaluations of their education, employment, welfare dependence, and relationships from ages 21 to 25.
Of the pregnancies - 55 per cent had resulted in live births, 31 per cent had been terminated, and 14 per cent resulted in miscarriage.
The researchers found those having abortions had advantages in terms of educational and economic outcomes compared to those becoming pregnant but not seeking abortions.
Women who had abortions had similar outcomes to women who did not become pregnant before the age of 21.
The differences were generally explained by family, social and educational factors present prior to pregnancy, the report said.
However, even after adjustment to take into account these factors, the results still showed young women who had abortions had higher levels of subsequent educational achievement.
The report, from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, is based on data obtained during a study of 1265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977 from infancy to adulthood.
It follows one released last year, which showed 42 per cent of those who had abortions had also experienced major depression at some stage during the previous four years.
This was nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had chosen to continue a pregnancy.
Debates around abortion have been dominated by the "rhetoric and political ideologies" of those holding pro-life and pro-choice positions, the report said.
Those holding pro-life positions tended to depict abortion as having few advantages and many disadvantages, while those holding a pro-choice position promoted the opposite view.
"The accumulated findings of this study lead to conclusions that fall between these extremes," the authors said.
"In a previous paper we found exposure to abortion was associated with a moderate increase in risks of subsequent mental health problems even when due allowance was made for confounding factors."
Present analysis suggested abortion may mitigate some of the educational disadvantages linked to early pregnancy.
"The discrepancies between these findings and the rhetoric of both pro-life and pro-choice arguments strongly underlines the need for further research into the risks and benefits associated with abortion as a means of addressing the issues raised by unwanted or mistimed pregnancies.
"In general, there is a clear need for further study of the social, educational and related outcomes of the decision to terminate a pregnancy so that women may be properly informed of the potential consequences of this decision for their future life course."
- NZPA
