For decades, abortion advocates have used carefully crafted language to make the procedure seem simple, harmless and even potentially beneficial to women’s health.

But a troubling new study validates what millions of women have discovered through painful experience: Going through an abortion can trigger a sharp downward spiral in a woman’s mental health.

The peer-reviewed study, published last month in the International Journal of Women’s Health, was conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life organization.

The study found that “[w]omen whose first pregnancy ends in abortion have much larger increases in mental health treatment compared to those who had a live birth,” according to a news release from the Lozier Institute on Monday.

The study analyzed Medicaid health insurance claims data for more than 4,800 women over a 17-year period. From 1999 to 2015, it tracked patients who lived in seven states where state taxpayer funds were used to pay for abortions.

That strategy helped the researchers avoid relying on patient surveys, which have limitations such as low participation and recall bias, the institute reported.

In the end, they concluded that women whose first pregnancy ended in an abortion, rather than a birth, required much higher rates of mental health services in three categories:

• Outpatient visits: 3.4 times more likely to increase.
• Inpatient hospital admissions: 5.7 times more likely to increase.
• Days of hospital stay: 19.6 times more likely to increase.

“Moreover, these women were less likely to have a prior history of mental health service utilization, suggesting that the abortion contributes to the difference,” the institute explained.

The study results are not really a surprise.

Lead author James Studnicki said previous studies from several other countries, including Finland, Italy and Germany, as well as the U.S., have found links between abortion and increased risk of anxiety, depression and even suicide.

“Some researchers insist that any limits on abortion to protect mothers and children create ‘mental health harms,’” Studnicki said. “Our study using years of claims data adds to an extensive body of international, peer-reviewed science showing the opposite — abortion itself has a significant negative impact on several measures of mental health.”

Tessa Longbons, co-author of the study, said it proves an important point.

“The evidence is clear that abortion of a first pregnancy is associated with substantial mental health harms to women,” she said.

Longbons went on to point out what should be obvious: Women considering abortion should be provided information on the potential damage the procedure could have on their mental health.

“Women have a right to know this and to understand the extent of these harms before they make such a life-changing decision,” she said.

But, of course, it’s in the abortionist’s best interest that this information be suppressed, as it would be bad for the extremely profitable business of slaughtering babies in the womb.

So next time you see abortion described as essential “health care” for women, be aware that’s not a scientific assessment, it’s a sales pitch from an industry that rakes in millions of dollars by luring frightened women through its doors with the attractive lie that it is simply making a “problem” disappear.

The actual, grim truth, as this study shows, is that every abortion leaves behind at least two victims: one dead and one wounded.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.