Myth of the Month: does abortion cause alcoholism?
OCTOBER 2004
Alcoholic Myth-of-the-Month: "Women who choose to end their first accidental pregnancy with abortion...are much more likely to end up abusing drugs and alcohol."
This finding was the result of research recently published in the "American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse." The implication is yet another example of confusion between cause and effect. If life's troubles caused alcoholism, we'd all be alcoholics. Such troubles, including the psychological damage wrought by terminating an unwanted pregnancy, no more cause alcoholism than does being physically abused during childhood. Alcoholism is rooted in a biochemistry that causes misbehaviors and poor judgment, not the other way around.
Instead, the link between abortion and addiction supports the idea that addicts (or children of same) are ...
