MONTREAL (LifeSiteNews) – Leslyn Lewis, one of Canada’s most prominent pro-life MPs of the Conservative Party, said a recent study showing the negative mental health effects of women who have had abortions is a wake-up call for society and the government to stop “demonizing” women suffering from post-abortion trauma.
“For too long, women who wanted to speak openly about their options before making this life-altering decision were demonized or dismissed. Some have threatened to shut down pregnancy care centres — places that provide resources and alternatives — rather than allow for real open discussion,” Lewis wrote Monday in an X post.
Lewis said the study is a reminder that “women deserve better than silence, stigma, or neglect. They deserve love, truth, and support.”
“Many women seek abortion not out of conviction but because they believe they have no alternatives. They fear that an unplanned pregnancy will end their education, derail their career, or unravel the future they worked so hard to build. Too often, they face these pressures alone, without the support and security they need from the baby’s father or from the government,” she wrote.
The peer-reviewed Canadian study of 1.2 million pregnancies was conducted by researchers Nathalie Auger, Jessica Healy-Profitós, Aimina Ayoub, Antoine Lewin, and Nancy Low. It was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research in July and concluded that “Induced abortion is associated with an increased risk of mental health-related hospitalization in the long term, but the association weakens with time.”
The study also found that the “risk of mental health hospitalization was greatest within five years of abortion but decreased slowly thereafter.”
Lewis noted that the study also shows the reality that Canadian women who have suffered through the trauma of abortion have “quietly carried for years” “long-term mental health challenges such as depression.”
“That often takes decades to recover from,” she wrote.
Lewis said that when talking about the known mental health side effects of women who have had abortions, it is not “about blame” but rather it is “about compassion.”
“That is why we must ensure comprehensive support for women facing an unplanned pregnancy — mental health care, counseling, community networks, and practical resources that affirm both her dignity and the value of life,” she stated.
Combined, the authors of the study work with the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, University of Montreal; the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University; the Department of Mathematics, University of Sherbrooke; Medical Affairs and Innovation, Héma-Québec, Saint-Laurent, Quebec; and the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University.
Lewis became known as one of the most outspoken Conservative MPs in caucus by sharing both pro-life and pro-freedom views.
As for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, he has been “red-lighted” by Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) for his pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia views, which he restated twice this campaign by pledging to “never” restrict abortion in Canada and to keep the euthanasia laws on the books – the remarks drew concern from those worried about the nation’s ever-expanding death regime.
Attempts to go after pro-life religious groups’ tax charity status have been made by the former Trudeau government and are not being planned by the current government of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Earlier this year, the Conservative Party released a petition blasting a recent finance committee recommendation supported by Carney that calls for pro-life and religious groups to have their charity tax status revoked.
As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, 150 babies were born after botched abortions in 2023-2024 in Canada. However, it’s not known how many survived.
Only two federal parties in Canada, the People’s Party of Canada and the Christian Heritage Party, have openly called for a ban on late-term abortions.
According to Campaign Life Coalition’s website, abortion has killed over 4 million preborn babies in Canada since its legalization in 1969. That is roughly equivalent to the total population of the province of Alberta.
