8mm
Posted on 03/13/2007 4:00:35 PM PDT by wagglebee
SPRINGFIELD, IL, March 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A history of abortion is associated with more frequent acts of physical aggression toward subsequent children, according to a new study published in the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology.
The findings were drawn from an analysis of data on 237 low-income women in Baltimore who had physically mistreated or neglected at least one of their children or allowed someone else to do so. Researchers controlled for a history of miscarriage or stillbirth, as well as for family history, aggression by the woman's partner and other key factors. While all the women in the study had some connection with child maltreatment or neglect, the authors found that those who reported a history of abortion reported significantly more frequent acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting or beating, directed at their children.
Priscilla Coleman, a professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University and lead author of the study, suggested that the link between abortion and child abuse may be influenced by a number of key factors, including unresolved grief, having felt pressured into an unwanted abortion, and disruption in maternal bonding with subsequently born children.
Unresolved grief issues, Coleman noted, "may negatively impact parental responsiveness to child needs, trigger anger, which is a common component of grief, and/or increase parental anxiety regarding child well-being." Some research indicates that grief may be more difficult to resolve if women undergo an unwanted abortion due to pressure from others. In one study, cited by Coleman, 64 percent of American women with a history of abortion reported feeling pressured to abort by others.
Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and a leading researcher who has been involved in more than a dozen studies on the impact of abortion on women, said that this latest study confirms the general findings of previous studies linking abortion with a higher risk of abuse or neglect.
"Previous research has also shown that abortion is linked with a subsequent increased risk of alcoholism, drug use, anxiety, rage, anger and psychiatric hospitalization," Reardon said. "Any of these factors, individually or in combination, can significantly increase the personal and family stresses that can lead to maltreatment or neglect."
A previous study by Coleman found that a maternal history of abortion was linked to less supportive home environments for subsequently born children and that subsequent children exhibited more behavioral problems than the children of women without a history of abortion.
A New Zealand study that tracked young women from birth to 25 years of age found that young women who had abortions were significantly more likely to experience subsequent depression, suicidal behavior and substance abuse, even after the researchers controlled for previous mental health problems.
"Taken all together, these studies show that the mental health effects of abortion don't stop with women," Reardon said. "They will impact their families, too."
Coleman's team suggested that professionals should be aware of the links between abortion and maternal mental health problems and "sensitively inquire about any history of abortion and related, unresolved negative emotions when working with women engaged in or at risk for aberrant parenting."
Finally, the authors concluded that while additional research is always needed, there can no longer be any doubt that abortion significantly impacts the health of women and their families.
"For years, abortion was construed to be a benign medical procedure carrying little if any potential for lasting adverse effects," they wrote. "However ... the last several years have brought greater understanding that abortion for many women is an issue with profound physical, psychological, spiritual and lifestyle dimensions that are intimately tied to many aspects of their lives."
Sources:
PK Coleman, VM Rue, CT Coyle, CD Maxey, "Induced Abortion and Child-Directed Aggression Among Mothers of Maltreated Children," Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology, 6(2), 2007. http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ij...
VM Rue et. al., "Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women," Medical Science Monitor, 10(10): SR5-16 (2004).
PK Coleman et. al., "The Quality of the Caregiving Environment and Child Developmental Outcomes Associated with Maternal History of Abortion Using the NLSY Data," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(6): 743-57 (2002).
DM Fergusson et. al., "Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(1): 16-24 (2006).
Additional studies linking abortion to child abuse:
PG Ney, T Fung, AR Wickett, "Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Child Abuse and Neglect: Four Studies," Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal, 8(1):43-64 (1993).
M Benedict, R White, P Cornely, "Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors and Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 9: 217-224 (1985).
E. Lewis, "Two Hidden Predisposing Factors in Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 3: 327-330 (1979).
P. Ney, "Relationship Between Abortion and Child Abuse," Canadian J. Psychiatry, 24:610-620 (1979).
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but according to NARAL wasn't legal abortion supposed to be a remedy for child and spousal abuse? That was their biggest selling point in and around 1970 wasn't it? I guess 45 million just isn't enough , maybe 55 million will be the magic number when we start to see their predicted results... /s
There was a study that tracked women a year after childbirth and abortions. It was done by STAKES, and it found that women were four times more likely to die in the following year if they had an abortion as opposed to giving birth. Here's part of the study and a link to the rest.
New Studies Unmask High Maternal Death Rates From Abortion
David C. Reardon, Ph.D.
"Abortion advocates, relying on inaccurate maternal death data in the United States, routinely claim that a woman's risk of dying from childbirth is six, ten, or even twelve times higher than the risk of death from abortion.
In contrast, abortion critics have long contended that the statistics relied upon for maternal mortality calculations have been distorted and that the broader claim that "abortion is many times safer than childbirth" completely ignores high rates of other physical and psychological complications associated with abortion. Now a recent, unimpeachable study of pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland has shown that the risk of dying within a year after an abortion is several times higher than the risk of dying after miscarriage or childbirth.(1)
This well-designed record-based study is from STAKES, the statistical analysis unit of Finland's National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health. In an effort to evaluate the accuracy of maternal death reports, STAKES researchers pulled the death certificate records for all the women of reproductive age (15-49) who died between 1987 and 1994--a total of 9,192 women. They then culled through the national health care data base to identify any pregnancy-related events for each of these women in the 12 months prior to their deaths. "
full article: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/fourtimes.htm
Wow. That's such a real stretch!
"A history of abortion is associated with more frequent acts of physical aggression toward subsequent children, according to a new study published in the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology."
But don't mind us, we're just ignorant rednecks that are opposed to science, unlike liberals (You don't think this story will appear on DU, do you? Didn't think so.)
Good grief. Where is the control group? What about 3 sigma anomalies? 237 families is not a large enough database! Did they do the same thing with upper income families?
In other words - not worth the paper it was written on.
Like you, my husband is a very analytical.....'just the facts'...kind of guy.
His work depends on him knowing all information possible & determining the best solution......lives and millions depend on it.
However, unlike you, he understands there can be a disconnect of feelings/emotions/nurturing with a woman who would kill a child in the womb.
Not all women..
....but too many!
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
I can't imagine any woman....unless she's completely devoid of feelings....
..can allow her unborn child to be brutally dismembered and pulled out of her womb....
..and not carry that particular horror imprinted/embedded in her psyche.
It really ramps me to hear such dismissive drivel such as not worth the paper it was written on
I have never considered you would react this way--say something like this
.....thought I knew you-(as well as anyone can know each other in cyberspace).
Guess I was wrong.
I was not commenting about abortion at all. Just the validity of this particular paper.
Nothing more nothing less.
Please don't take my critique of their methodology as a vote or support for abortion.
..but common sense should surely be your guide with such as this.
How many studies do you need to realize 34 years of baby killing soaks into the corporate conscience of our nation.....
..and we cease to value those still living?
I was not arguing against that either.
Again, I was commenting on this paper ONLY.
Personally I would support a real study using control groups, a large group (to weed out the 3 sigma anomalies), income bias adjustment, age bias adjustment, error bars, etc.
I have never considered you would react this way--say something like this
.....thought I knew you-(as well as anyone can know each other in cyberspace).
Guess I was wrong.
Oh brother. RA was commenting on the study procedures. And he was perfectly correct. The narrow demographic and exceedingly small size of the study group renders the conclusion scientifically worthless. And your reaction to the conclusion as intuitively correct because it comports with your personal views does not translate to scientific legitimacy.
Thank you! Abortion issue aside, if you go to write a paper or do a study, do it right or don't do it. All this paper does is falsely validate anti-abortion sentiments and people who don't understand how to conduct a study will take this report as gospel without knowing how useless the data really is.
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!
Abortion IS child abuse.
The leftist feminazis will try to suppress this!
Isn't abortion the ultimate act of child abuse?
....or accuse or excuse
....or accuse or excuse
....or accuse or excuse
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