The Long-Term Effects Of Abortion - Where Is The Media's Outrage?
Recently, there have been a few very revealing studies about the effects of abortion on women and men. Of course, if one's source of news is the mainstream media, it's doubtful they have heard about them.
A nationwide study by the Elliott Institute questioned a total of 626 respondents, and 84% of those believed that the negative emotional reactions to those involved in having an abortion are moderate to very severe. Even 60 percent of those who identified themselves as very pro-choice said they think emotional pain is common. Of those 47 respondents who said they've had an abortion, 76.6 percent reported a negative emotional reaction. Of the 25 males who said they were involved in an abortion, 60% also experienced negative emotional consequences. Reference: Emotional pain follows abortion, October 30, 2008, WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily also reports:
In a two-year study cited on The Reclaiming Fatherhood website, (www.menandabortion.com), 142 men responded to an online survey about their personal abortion experiences. Forty-five percent said their partner chose to abort against their wishes. Sixty-six percent indicated their relationships failed after the abortion. When asked about incidents of post-abortion problems, 128 male respondents reported grief, sadness and persistent thoughts about the baby. More than 100 cited feelings of helplessness, relationship problems, anger, guilt, isolation, difficulty concentrating and anxiety. Reference: Post-abortion grief very real, experts say. September 11, 2008. By Chelsea Schilling, WorldNetDaily
A few years ago, psychotherapist Theresa Burke, led a support group for women with eating disorders and learned that six out of the eight had undergone abortions. The other two had been sexually abused as children. Whenever the subject of abortion came up, Burke noted that it aroused intense emotions among the women, even as they strongly dismissed its potential impact on them.
LifeNews.com reported the following on November 28, 2008:
New Study Shows Direct Link Between Abortion and Mental Health Problems
by Steven Ertelt
A new research study featuring numerous controls and a national data set finds a link between abortion and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, led the research team that conducted the study. The study refutes the report the American Psychiatric Association released in August claiming abortion causes no mental health issues for women. The research team found induced abortions result in increased risks for a myriad of mental health problems ranging from anxiety to depression to substance abuse disorders.
The number of cases of mental health issues rose by as much as 17 percent in women having abortions compared to those who didn't have one and the risks of each particular mental health problem rose as much as 145% for post-abortive women. For 12 out of 15 of the mental health outcomes examined, a decision to have an abortion resulted in an elevated risk for women.
"Abortion was found to be related to an increased risk for a variety of mental health problems (panic attacks, panic disorder, agoraphobia, PTSD, bipolar disorder, major depression with and without hierarchy), and substance abuse disorders after statistical controls were instituted for a wide range of personal, situational, and demographic variables," they wrote. "Calculation of population attributable risks indicated that abortion was implicated in between 4.3% and 16.6% of the incidence of these disorders," they concluded.
The researchers found women who had abortions, compared with those who didn't had a 120% risk for alcohol abuse, with or without dependence, a 145% increased risk of alcohol dependence, 79% increased risk of drug abuse with or without dependence and a 126% increase in the risk of drug dependence. For mood disorders, the experience of an abortion increased risk of developing bipolar disorder by 167%, major depression without hierarchy by 45% and major depression with hierarchy by 48%. For anxiety disorders, there was a 111% increased risk for panic disorders, 44% increased risk for panic attacks, 59% increased risk for PTSD, 95% increased risk for agoraphobia with or without panic disorder and a 93% increased risk for agoraphobia without panic disorder.
There was no mental health outcome showing abortion to have decreased the risk or a high risk for women who did not have an abortion.
Some abortion advocates have dismissed the wealth of previous research on the link between abortion and mental health problems by saying factors unrelated to the abortion contributed to them. The scientists found abortion elevated the risks independently of those factors. "The abortion variable made a significant independent contribution to more mental health outcomes than a history of rape, sexual abuse in childhood, physical assault in adulthood, physical abuse in childhood, and neglect which contributed to between four and ten different diagnoses," the scholars wrote. "What is most notable in this study is that abortion contributed significant independent effects to numerous mental health problems above and beyond a variety of other traumatizing and stressful life experiences," they said.
Ultimately, the authors write that abortion is directly "responsible for more than 10% of the population incidence of alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, drug dependence, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and bipolar disorder in the population." The team also found that spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages, had an independent effect on 4 of the 15 psychiatric illnesses examined -- indicating abortion is significantly more traumatic for women than a miscarriage.
The team relied on a nationally representative sample, the national comorbidity survey, which is widely recognized as the first nationally representative survey of mental health in the United States.
Reference: Coleman PK et al., Induced abortion and anxiety, mood, and substance abuse disorders: Isolating, Journal of Psychiatric Research (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2008.10.009.
LifeNews.com reported on November 30, 2008 the following:
Second New Study: Mental Health Problems Up 30% For Women Having Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
A second new study in New Zealand points to the link between abortion and subsequent mental health problems for the women who have them. Researchers at Otago University reported their findings in the British Journal of Psychiatry and found that women who have abortions have an increased risk of developing mental health problems. Professor David Fergusson, John Horwood and Dr Joseph Boden headed up the study that involved women who were interviewed on six different occasions between the ages of 15 and 30.
The study found that women who had abortions had rates of mental health problems about 30% higher than other women. The conditions most associated with abortion included anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders. Abortions increased the risk of severe depression and anxiety by one-third.The authors concluded that anywhere from 1.5 to 5.5 percent of all mental health disorders seen in New Zealand result from women having abortions. Ultimately, the New Zealand team concluded that abortion adversely affects women's mental health while childbirth and miscarriages do not."Other pregnancy outcomes [including live birth] were not related to increased risk of mental health problems," they found.
Reference:
"Abortion and mental health disorders: evidence from a 30-year longitudinal study." Fergusson D, Horwood LJ and Boden JM (2008). British Journal of Psychiatry, 193: 444-451
The Media's Role
What if instead of the abortion being the cause of these mental problems, some other activity or explanation was discovered to be the cause with the same statistical results. For example, if these problems were the result of harassment in the workplace, there would be such an outcry by the media and public that bills would be introduced immediately in Congress to penalize workplace harassment.
Another issue that gets tremendous press is child abduction. The figure given by most child advocates are that 800,000 children are missing every year, which would be over 2,000 a day. Realistically, according to a 2002 study, 115 were actually abducted by a stranger. Since the 24/7 news cycle features these, children are taught to live in fear. Of course, nobody wants to see one child abducted, but many have changed their lifestyle because of an infinitesimal percent being harmed.
There are other examples of extreme negative stereotypes of issues that often legislation has been passed to deal with, such as: second-hand smoking, the global warming scare, environmental impacts of drilling for oil, etc. Usually the statistics don't bear out the response that is given, but the media has painted such a one-sided view that they get the reaction they desire.
When studies are released about the long-term harmful effects of abortion that have much greater percentages of causal connection then what was just mentioned, they are ignored by the mainstream press and even some established medical organizations. Once again, it shows the liberal bias and agenda that these groups have. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the American Psychiatric Association states that there is no connection between abortion and negative mental health. Dr. Brenda Major, chair of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion, said, "The best scientific evidence published indicates that among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy, the relative risk of mental health problems are no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion or deliver that pregnancy."
There are numerous testimonials about the negative impact abortion has on men and women, such as on www.abortionchangesyou.com, www.menandabortion.info, www.created4life.org, and other sources. This message needs to be spread throughout our society in any way possible. We can't depend on the liberal media to disseminate the truth about this.
Source: Stand for Life
Source URL: http://www.standforlife.net
Publish Date: December 27, 2008
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/081230_3.htm
