Abortion restrictions alone don’t increase child mistreatment or foster care entry. Katie Massey Combs, a research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science, and team recently published an op-ed on this oversimplification, advising that some researchers are trying to draw this connection. While there is no direct increase in foster care entry or child maltreatment from parents who were denied an abortion, there is potential for those parents to face mental health and poverty stress. Massey and team advise we must look at this complex issue from a wider angle, or else risk stigmatizing parents and children further.
Read the full op-ed on The Imprint Youth & Family News:
