The economics literature over the past 15 years has shown significant downsides of abortion for women, yet it remains largely unknown and uncited by pro-life scholars and lawyers. The work of University of Pennsylvania law and economics professor Jonathan Klick (individually and with others) is particularly well regarded and worth consulting. Consider, for example, his Mandatory Waiting Periods for Abortions and Female Mental Health, 16(1) HEALTH MATRIX: JOURNAL OF LAW-MEDICINE 183-208 (2006). Arguing that female suicide rates are a good demographic-level proxy for women’s mental heath, Klick shows that there is a “statistically and practically significant drop in the suicide rate when states adopt waiting periods,” and so concludes that “waiting periods do improve mental health among females.” He adds that the effect is robust and apparently causal. (He does consider alternative explanations but finds them less likely.) Online see http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/hmax16&div=12&g_sent=1&collection=journals or http://law.cwru.edu/StudentLife/organizations/healthmatrix/files/7%2016.1%20klick.pdf . On SSRN, it can be found at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=821304##
Also worthwhile are the recent installments in the continuing studies by Klick and Thomas Stratmann of how unlimited abortion leads to more “risky sex” (referring to sex acts that risk pregnancy and disease): Abortion Access and Risky Sex Among Teens: Parental Involvement Laws and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 24(1) JOURNAL OF LAW, ECONOMICS, & ORGANIZATION 2-21 (2006). It’s found on SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=819304. See also their 2009 paper The Effect of Abortion Liberalization on Sexual Behavior: International Evidence (with Sven Neelsen), U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 09-20.