PROTOCOL: Abortion and mental health outcomes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

TL;DR

This paper outlines a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether abortion increases the risk of adverse mental health outcomes.

Contribution

The study introduces a comprehensive and transparent protocol for evaluating the mental health effects of abortion.

Findings

The review will synthesize empirical evidence on the relationship between abortion and mental health outcomes.

It will use rigorous methods to address conflicting results and contextual complexities surrounding abortion research.

Abstract

This is a protocol for a systematic review and meta‐analysis of research on mental health outcomes of abortion. Does abortion increase the risk of adverse mental health outcomes? That is the central question for this review. Our review aims to inform policy and practice by locating, critically appraising, and synthesizing empirical evidence on associations between abortion and subsequent mental health outcomes. Given the controversies surrounding this topic and the complex social, political, legal, and ideological contexts in which research and reviews on abortion are conducted, it is especially important to conduct this systematic review and meta‐analysis with comprehensive, rigorous, unbiased, and transparent methods. We will include a variety of study designs to enhance understanding of studies' methodological strengths and weaknesses and to identify potential explanations for conflicting results. We will follow open science principles, providing access to our methods, measures, and results, and making data available for re‐analysis.

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