A new study says it has found a correspondence between a country’s abortion rate and its suicide rate [1].
Published in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry, a pre-proof details the research that was carried out on 62 different countries.
Despite its significance for public health, the paper says the relationship between suicide and abortion has been rarely studied.
Yet, they say investigating it can help to examine abortion in terms of views on life.
“Although a society with a high suicide rate can not necessarily be considered to be a society with less respect for human life, it is certain that a society with a higher suicide rate is more likely to be in a state where the value of life is in jeopardy. Given this, the relationship between suicide and abortion would provide insight into assessing the abortion arguments in terms of the value of life”.
Moreover, “whereas suicide among those who experienced abortion is a much-studied issue, the relationship between suicide and abortion has hardly been studied at the general population level”
The researchers found that, “the suicide and abortion rates have a significant positive association. When the relevant variables such as homicide rate, fertility rate, alcohol consumption per capita, and income level were taken into account, the suicide rate was the only significant predictor of the abortion rate.”