THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION: THE HIDDEN COSTS OF ABORTION

Author: John Dady

Website: I Write You Share.com

Email: citizensagainsttyranny1776@gmail.com

​The current public debate surrounding abortion policies often relies on misleading claims about the necessity and safety of the procedure. We are consistently told that abortion is an unavoidable solution for mental health, poverty, and physical distress.

​This document challenges that one-sided narrative by presenting the research that is consistently ignored: the profound, documented, and lasting negative effects on women's psychological, economic, and physical well-being. Furthermore, this document establishes a fiscally responsible and ethically integrated policy framework that eliminates the need for abortion by addressing the root causes of financial instability.

​1. The Hidden Mental Health Toll

Those who argue for abortion access based on 'mental health preservation' are failing to address the whole truth. We must look beyond the immediate feeling of 'relief' and examine the rigorous longitudinal research—the studies that track women not just for a few months, but for decades—to understand the real, lasting psychological costs.

​The Clinical Reality: Increased Risk of Psychiatric Illness

According to a comprehensive review of multiple studies [1], women with a history of abortion show a significantly higher incidence of serious psychiatric disorders:

​Major Depression: 37% higher incidence [1].

​Anxiety Disorders: 34% higher incidence [1].

​Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): 81% higher incidence [1].

​Substance Abuse: A staggering 110% to 230% higher incidence of alcohol and drug dependency [1].

​Conclusion: When the opposition claims abortion protects a woman's mental health, they are failing to acknowledge a substantial body of research that links the procedure to a significant and lasting increase in formal mental illness.

​2. Economic Coercion and the Adoption Solution

The claim that abortion is a matter of economic necessity ignores the fact that poverty is not solved by abortion; it is a key driver of it. When nearly 75% of abortions are performed on low-income women, the crisis is the systemic lack of financial and social support, which amounts to financial coercion.

​The True Economic Solution: Adoption

The claim of economic necessity is undermined by the reality of adoption. The opposition ignores the abundance of families ready to provide a stable home:

​For every single infant placed for adoption in the United States, there are an estimated 36 waiting families [3]—often totaling up to two million couples nationally.

​Conclusion: The solution to economic distress is not an irreversible procedure; it is robust support and the ability to choose life and place the child with a loving, financially secure family, or to be supported in parenting through comprehensive state aid.

​3. The Physical Health Costs

While statistically rare, the procedure carries a real risk of long-term physical damage that affects a woman's reproductive future:

​Immediate Morbidity: Nearly 1 in 16 women have been found to require an emergency room visit for complications within six weeks of the abortion [5].

​Risks to Future Fertility: Complications like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) or Asherman’s Syndrome (AS) can cause secondary infertility, increase the danger of future life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, and raise the risk of subsequent preterm births [6], [7].

​4. The State's Compelling Interest

A sovereign state has a compelling interest to regulate and prohibit abortion based on a duty to its citizens: to protect life, to protect health, and to uphold fiscal responsibility.

​The Interest in Upholding Fiscal Responsibility (The Cost Multiplier)

When nearly 75% of abortions are driven by poverty, the State incurs a direct financial interest. Abortion does not relieve the State of its existing fiscal obligation; it merely shifts and often multiplies the cost. A woman who aborts a pregnancy may remain dependent on state services. Should she develop post-abortion psychiatric harm, the costs to the taxpayer for long-term clinical care and social support are drastically increased.

​4A. The Refusal to Compromise the Strict Standard: Unchanging Value of Life

The State’s compelling interest in protecting life is absolute and immutable. The prohibition against abortion cannot be compromised by the circumstances surrounding the child's conception.

​Immutability of Life Value: To permit an exception for abortion based on the child's origin through rape or incest would fundamentally compromise the ethical foundation of the State's policy.

​Due Process and Adjudication: Creating a medical exception predicated on a claim of rape or incest would force the healthcare system to adjudicate a criminal matter without the benefit of formal investigation or due process.

​Support, Not Destruction: The policy response to this violence is not to permit the destruction of the innocent child, but rather to ensure the survivor is provided immediate, comprehensive, and dedicated trauma care.

​5. The State's Reciprocal Obligation and Post-Natal Accountability

If the State prohibits abortion, it assumes a reciprocal duty of accountability to the child and mother. This obligation exists to eliminate the poverty the mother sought to escape.

​Guaranteed Post-Natal Support and the "State Covenant":

​Guaranteed and Expedited Adoption Pathway: For women who cannot or will not parent, the State must guarantee an expedited adoption pathway.

​Guaranteed Financial Security for Parenting Mothers: Direct financial assistance must be provided to raise the mother's income above the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

​Guaranteed Healthcare and Childcare: Comprehensive subsidized healthcare and free or heavily subsidized high-quality childcare.

​5A. Paternal Accountability: Father's Right to Claim Parental Status

​Father's Right to Claim Parental Status: The biological father shall be granted the right to claim parental status prior to the child being placed into the adoption pathway.

​Commitment Requirement: The father's right is contingent upon him affirmatively committing to assume full legal and financial custody. Upon this commitment, the mother irrevocably waives all rights and obligations to future support.

​X. The Principle of Inseparable Interdependence: A Policy Compact

The policy advanced is a single, integrated legislative compact. The enforcement of one (Abortion Restriction) is conditional upon the robust implementation of the other (The Modernization Act).

​CONCLUSION: Establishing the Strict Life-of-the-Mother Standard

The State’s compelling interest to protect both life and health demands a strict legal standard, backed by ethical financial support. This position advocates for the prohibition of abortion in all instances, except when the mother's physical life is strictly in peril, verified by two or more independent physicians.

​References

[1] Coleman, P. K. (2011). British Journal of Psychiatry.

[2] Miller, S., et al. (2023). American Economic Journal.

[3] National Council for Adoption (NCFA). (2025).

[4] Rue, V. M., et al. (2004). Journal of Abortion and Related Medical Sciences.

[5] Reardon, D. C., et al. (2018). The Open Journal of Emergency Medicine.

[6] Hooker, L. A., et al. (2016). European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

[7] Saccone, G., et al. (2016). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.