This post is by way of preliminary heads-up. Researchers far more knowledgeable than I am will deal with the specific errors of a piece that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post. ("The Big Lie about Abortion and Mental Health," by Brenda Major.)
In the first couple of paragraphs Major grants that "The decision to terminate a pregnancy can be difficult, and some women end up regretting it. It's commendable to help women make an informed choice."
So, in the abstract providing information to women contemplating an abortion is okay, but not if state laws talk about informing women of the possibility of abortion having a deleterious impact. Why? Because that's not "accurate" information, according to Major.
For support Major trots out the usual naysayers--the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute and professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, which are wholly committed to legalized abortion. (Major tells us that she chaired the APA task force which did not "substantiate the claim that abortion, compared with its alternatives, causes an increased incidence of mental health problems.")
As I say, the experts will rebut Major tomorrow. Today let me make just one point. Her opening sentence reads, "The latest war on abortion is being fought less over women's bodies than over their minds."
And in a real sense this is true, although not in the way Major means it.
For the past 50 years, women have been told without ceasing that abortion is essentially problem-free for all but a tiny subset of women (the baby, of course, is ignored except when the argument is that she if she is "unwanted," she is better off dead!). But does that make any sense, intuitively? No, of course it doesn't.
Just in the past year, we have witnessed a stream of quality research documenting the negative aftershocks of abortion. We have written about almost all of them in National Right to Life News and on this blog. According to Prof. Michael New, these peer-reviewed journals include The Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Journal of Pregnancy, and The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry."These studies find evidence that women who have had abortions are at greater risk for health problems ranging from PTSD to depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse," he writes.
Major tells us that the "stigma" surrounding abortion colors the way women respond. So, for example, if you were to see (as we ARE seeing) women increasingly coming forth to say they regret their abortion, that is because it is only when women say their abortion was wrong ("repent," is Major's word) that they are not condemned.
The truth is gradually working its way out of the darkness and into the light. No wonder pro-abortionists such as Brenda Major are so nervous.
Contact: Dave Andrusko
Source: NRLC
Publish Date: November 8, 2010
