The consequences for women’s lives if they were turned away from a request for a legal abortion because of financial, gestational or other issues are documented. The long-term impact for women’s ability to access a legal abortion is examined as well. 

The Turnaway Study:  Ten Years, A Thousand Women and the Consequences of Having – or Being Denied – An Abortion. (Foster, Diana Greene.  2020.  New York: Scribner)

We find no evidence that abortion hurts women. For every outcome we analyzed, women who received an abortion were either the same or, more frequently, better off than women who were denied an abortion. Their physical health was better. Their employment and financial situations were better. Their mental health was initially better and eventually the same. They had more aspirational plans for the coming year. They had a greater chance of having a wanted pregnancy and being in a good romantic relationship years down the road. And the children they already had were better off, too.

We find many ways that women were hurt by carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. Continued pregnancy and childbirth is associated with large physical health risks, so great that two women in our study died from childbirth-related causes.  (p. 21) 

Foster also mentions joint pains, headaches and exacerbation of preexisting health issues. 

In the short run, women experienced increased anxiety and loss of life satisfaction after having been denied an abortion and those with violent partners found it difficult to extricate themselves after the birth. Over the next several years, women who were denied abortions experienced economic hardships not experienced by women who received their wanted abortions. (p. 22)

In summary: Women make thoughtful, well-considered decisions about whether to have an abortion.