(AgapePress) - From a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics comes the realization that women want to know about all the possible risks related to elective medical procedures, especially abortion.

The findings came from 187 women who were administered brief surveys that asked them to state their preferences for information regarding elective medical procedures. The women also ranked their informational preferences for alternative treatments and complication rates as well as the level of severity of various complications. Based on the rankings, 95 percent of patients want to know about all the risks of a procedure, and 69 percent want to know about all alternative treatments -- not just the ones their doctors recommend.

In ranking the severity of complications, women pinned mental health problems as very serious, which is especially important since abortion has been linked to an increase in suicidal behavior, clinical depression and substance abuse, among other mental problems.

Dr. David Reardon, co-author of the study and director of the Elliot Institute, explained that the study "demonstrates that women have a high level of interest in being informed of any risk that is statistically associated with the procedure, including psychological risks."

Therefore, Reardon believes the study opposes doctors withholding information about the risks of abortion simply because they believe future studies will eventually disqualify earlier findings.

"Our study shows that most women don't want doctors to screen which information they are told about risks," Reardon said. "They want to judge the evidence for themselves.

"They clearly prefer to be fully informed about all possible complications," he continued, "even if abortion providers insist that the causal links between abortion and these statistically linked complications have yet to be fully proven to the abortionist's satisfaction."