According to the American Psychological Association (APA) there is no evidence than an abortion increases the risk of mental health problems for adult women.
An APA task force say they have found no credible evidence that a single elective abortion jeopardises the mental health of adult women.
Dr. Brenda Major, chair of the Task Force, says they found that the best scientific evidence suggests that among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy the risk of mental health problems is no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion or deliver that pregnancy.
However Dr. Major says with multiple abortions the mental health risks are more uncertain.
The APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion evaluated all research published in English in peer-reviewed journals since 1989 on the mental health of women who had an induced abortion, compared to counterparts that did not and focused only on those studies found to be most methodologically sound.
The APA found that while there is some evidence that women experience feelings of loss, sadness and grief after an abortion, and some have clinically significant disorders, including depression and anxiety, there was little evidence to support the claim that was a link between abortion history and mental health problems.
The Task Force found that the problems many experienced were caused by factors other than the abortion, such as being exposed to violence, a history of drug or alcohol use, poverty, a history of emotional problems and previous unwanted births.
These factors predisposed the women to have both unwanted pregnancies, or mental health problems after a pregnancy, says the APA.
They say women have abortions for different reasons under different personal, social, cultural and economic circumstances, all of which affect a woman's mental state after an abortion and therefore global statements about the psychological impact of abortion can be misleading.