Women Need More Mental Health Treatment After Abortion, New Study Finds

Elliot Institute ^ | 8/20/02

[Desdemona]

Well, DUH!!!!!

The Russians knew about this in the 30's.

[nickcarraway]

Hmmm, I didn't hear about that, please elaborate. (and Russia was such a caring, sensitive place in the 30's)

[GodsLittleOne]

Solution? Don't have an abortion. Wow, problem solved.

[Desdemona]

It's been a long time ago, now, but in a former life I was an archives assistant in a MAJOR medical school. We had a collection of ephemeral work from the 20th century, all parts of it, which I indexed. Every now and then, I'd actually read the pamphlet if the subject was of interest to me. I specifically remember a pamphlet article refering to the problem of "Psychick" in relation to women killing their unborn children in Moscow. The date on the pamphlet, if memory serves, was 1930. There were no details other than refering to it as a "problem". There was a picture of the outside of a clinic. I can remember being disturbed reading it. Being about the only pro-lifer in the library, it was hard to keep my mouth shut, too. It seemed that the whole subject was just brushed aside, like these women shouldn't have feelings.

I don't remember ever really pursuing the topic later. Once, though, in the stacks I came across something called the Journal of Eugenics. Scary stuff in there. I'm pretty sure Margaret Sanger was an editor. I doubt she had any feelings.

[monkey]

Public interest in the health effects of abortion was last raised in 1989 Surgeon General Koop reviewed the research on abortion at the request of President Reagan. Koop concluded that all the studies done up to that point was so methodologically flawed that no firm conclusions could be drawn about abortion's risks or benefits.

In a letter to the outgoing president, Koop recommended that a major federally funded longitudinal study of abortions health risks was the only way to secure definitive answers. His proposal for a major study died in the Democratically controlled congress, however, when abortion advocates argued that the appeal for such research was politically motivated and a waste of tax payer dollars.

Koop is right; a study like this isn't very meaningful. Women who have abortions are far more likely to have all sorts of problems in their lives. Excluding women with prior psychiatric care helps, but only a little.

Even a detailed study like Koop is suggesting has limited value. Women who get abortions may be fundamentally different than women who don't, in ways that can't be captured by any metric. Proof of causation - abortion causes poor mental health - will always be tenuous.

Of course, in our "smoking is dumb" PR society, maybe the stigma of being cukoo will work better than the stigma of murderous selfishness.

[luckodeirish]

Good point, also, what kind of sample is 183,000 welfare leaches?

[nickcarraway]

Troubled women undoubtedly seek abortion. But troubled women are still human beings, not just to be written off. If abortion makes troubled women even more troubled, isn't that something valuable to know? I read this study to mean that whatever shape the women were in before the abortion, they were worse afterward.

[nickcarraway]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. It seems like you came across a lot of interesting info.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Having an Abortion is a very traumatic experience.
Regardless of what pro abortion advocates tell you, deep down you know your killing a defenseless human being.
Sometimes guilt is a good thing IMHO

[nickcarraway]

Yes, Koop tried to get a study done with better methodology, but his attempts to get it were frustrated. The ``pro-choicers'' are the ones who frustrated it. I hope someday we can get a study with better methodology, but I know it's unlikely any time soon.

[Lilly]

re: Post #4

Agreed. No justifiable excuse for killing innocent babies. No justifiable excuse for sin.

[jlogajan]

I wouldn't be surprised. Having some religious wacko screaming "Murderer! Murderer!" in your face is bound to unsettle anyone.

Live births remain 8 times more deadly than abortions, however. And even live births result in post-partum depression, etc.

So women face the choice of a 63% greater risk of depression if they abort versus an 800% greater risk of dying in child birth if they go to term.

Life is full of choices. Be pro-choice.

[monkey]

If abortion makes troubled women even more troubled, isn't that something valuable to know?

Certainly. My comment concerned only study methodology. Would this cohort of troubled women (the ones who seek abortions) be more, less, or as troubled if they carried to term? The study can't tell us.

I also get a little concerned about whether some of the approaches to "life issues" - such as abortion leads to cancer, or ASCs are more efficacious than ESCs, or this study - are really the way to go. I don't think there's adequate scientific evidence to support such arguments, and there is an underlying concession to pragmatism over principle.

[Desdemona]

Ping

[Orual]

A study published in the most recent issue the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

"Since 1930, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry has been the leading interdisciplinary journal in the mental health field. AJO offers a rich scholarly mix of clinical, research, theoretical, and policy-oriented articles on issues affecting individuals and families across the life span-all serving to inform professional practice and public policy from a multidisciplinary perspective."

Brain is cramping. Help. Or just shoot me now.

[foreshadowed at waco]

How about being pro-informed-choice? The Democrats fought GW on pre-natal funding for poor women because it offered them the option of a sonogram prior to making a choice (guess seeing fingers and toes moving altered their thinking)...guess Planned Parenthood was worried about its bottom line...

no dead fetuses:no money::no money:no power.