Dear Colleague:
Perhaps the biggest and best study on the subject has determined that
abortion triggers mental health problems for the women who have them,
especially if they are not women but teenage girls.
Steven W. Mosher
President
PRI Weekly Briefing
20 January 2006
Vol. 8 / No. 3
Why Think Abortion Good for Anyone?
By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Abortion destroys the psychological health of teenage girls. A large new
study has statistics so dramatic on this point, even pro-lifers may have
trouble believing them. The pro-abortion lead author of the study, Prof.
David Fergusson of Christchurch School of Medicine & Health Sciences in
Christchurch, New Zealand, told Australia's ABC news that abortion causes
mental health problems, not the other way round, and women's backgrounds
had nothing to do with it. "We were indeed surprised by the results," he
said. "Our expectation was that we would find that young women who had
abortions had higher rates, but that was due to selection factors, that is
the background of young women predisposed them both to abortion and to
mental health problems, and we found that that was not in fact the case.
Abortion turns out to be the most common medical surgical procedure that
young women actually encounter during adolescence and young adulthood."
This is the procedure constantly pushed on teen girls by our own
government and feminist activists without their parents' knowledge or
consent.
Fergusson and his two collaborators found that girls 15 to 18 who had not
gotten pregnant had a 31.2% chance of experiencing major depression.
Those who became pregnant at such a tender age but did not have an
abortion had a 35.7% chance. But those who had an abortion had an
astonishing 78.6% chance.
For anxiety, the statistics were similar. No pregnancy: 37.9%; pregnancy,
no abortion: 35.7%; abortion: 64.3%.
And for ideas of suicide, a horrific mark of mental illness, the figures
should be enough to convince anyone who cares about young women to desire
a ban on abortion for minors. No pregnancy: 23%; pregnancy, no abortion:
25%; abortion: 50%.
These are enormous statistical differences. Women who had abortions at
older ages had considerably increased risks for mental illness as well,
though not as dramatic.
Something has been missing from Big Media's version of the abortion
debate, and that is details of how abortion harms the women who have them.
The near future of the pro-life movement lies in emphasizing the harmful
effects of abortion on the mothers who toss their children into the
wastebasket. Common physical consequences that have been scientifically
documented range from infertility to breast cancer, but what about
scientifically documented psychological consequences?
Given modern antiseptic techniques, antibiotics, and more advanced
technologies, it's hard to see why any woman should take the risk of
abortion. There was a time when childbearing was dangerous for women, but
that time is past where basic medical services are present-which is
everywhere in America (and in the parts of the world where they aren't,
abortion is very dangerous). The demand for infants is so great, married
couples must wait years to adopt them, and many find it so difficult that
they seek to adopt children from overseas instead. Even severely
handicapped babies have people willing to adopt them. Crisis pregnancy
centers will provide all services for free. Why, then, mete out death
when you can give life, even if your pregnancy is unwanted--especially
considering the joy you can give to an infertile couple eager to adopt?
Pro-abortion activists cite possible psychological harm to women if they
give birth to an unwanted child, but the scientific evidence continues to
pile up proving the opposite: Abortion is more psychologically harmful
than carrying a child to term. Their arguments are based on ideology, not
reality, and what common sense tells us--a mother will suffer spiritually
from unnaturally ending the life growing within her--has been confirmed.
So who is abortion good for? It's not necessary to demonstrate that
abortion is bad for unborn children. As Ronald Reagan said in 1980, "I've
noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."
In what may be the biggest study of its kind, Fergusson and his fellow
scientists examined the psychological consequences of abortion for New
Zealand women age 15 to 25. Reported the scientists, "Forty-one per cent
of women had become pregnant on at least one occasion prior to age 25,
with 14.6% having an abortion. Those having an abortion had elevated
rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety,
suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders. This association
persisted after adjustment for confounding factors."
Depression, anxiety, and other negative effects occurred after the
abortions, the researchers said. These are not cases of depressed,
drug-addicted or otherwise disturbed women being more likely to abort
their children; rather, the abortions preceded the disturbances.
An important aspect of this study is the care taken to avoid the pitfalls
of earlier studies, some of which showed a link between abortion and
negative psychological consequences, and some of which didn't. This new,
large study used methods of sampling the female population, eliminating
confounding factors, and other techniques to produce a more accurate
analysis. It appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry.
"The press actually did a very good job and published stories of women who
verified the study with their own personal experience," says Colleen Bayer
of Family Life International-New Zealand. One such story, from Maria
Parsons, appeared January 7: "She said she still cries every day for the
unborn child she agreed to 'kill.' At a vulnerable stage in her life, she
says, she naively opted for an abortion after an unplanned pregnancy in
the dying stages of a relationship. 'It has destroyed the last part of my
life. Inside, there is just a longing to hold the baby and to see that
13-year-old standing here. I wonder what she looks like. I can see those
years in my mind like a photo album,' a sobbing Ms. Parsons told the
Weekend Herald."
Ken Orr, spokesman for Right to Life New Zealand, wants women to know
about this kind of research rather than have it disappear down a memory
hole after a brief spate of publicity. "Our society is also lobbying the
Abortion Supervisory Committee seeking to ensure that the results of this
study are given to every woman seeking an abortion," he said. "That
committee is appointed by and answerable to our parliament for the
oversight of the administration of this country's abortion laws." Orr's
group is already suing the government for not enforcing the country's
abortion restrictions.
The New Zealand study isn't the only recent paper discussing the negative
psychological effects of abortion. The pro-life Elliot Institute notes
that in 2005, "two new studies we co-authored were published in journals
of medicine or psychology. Their findings show that: Women who abort are
three times more likely to report symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder
compared to women with unintended pregnancies who deliver (Journal of
Anxiety Disorders). Women with a history of induced abortion are three
times more likely to use illegal drugs during a subsequent pregnancy
(British Journal of Health Psychology)."
In its December 2005 report, the South Dakota Task Force to Study
Abortion, appointed by Gov. Mike Rounds (R.), cited an expert as saying
that "the literature on the psychological effects of abortion conducted
over the last several decades indicates that a minimum of 10-20% of women
experience adverse, prolonged, post-abortion reactions. This translates
into at least 130,000 to 260,000 new cases of serious mental health
problems each year in the U.S."
So who is abortion good for?
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.
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Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
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