Danish researchers have released a study that they claim shows no evidence of abortion having a mental-health impact on the women involved.
“Women should be aware that going through the procedure of [an] induced abortion does not increase their risk of having a psychiatric episode within the first 12 months after the procedure,” said lead researcher Trine Munk-Olsen of Aarhus University.
Pro-life critics were swift to accuse the study of methodological flaws, as did one researcher who identifies himself as “a pro-choice atheist.”
New Zealand researcher David Fergusson said, “As a research scientist who is a pro-choice atheist and whose research suggests possible small, harmful effects for abortion, I have been concerned at the ways in which the politics of these debates has colored and distorted the interpretation of the evidence.”
The Danish study compared 84,000 women who had first-trimester abortions between 1995 and 2007 with 280,000 who had children and a larger group who did neither. Factoring out women with any prior psychiatric history, it found that 1.4% of those who had abortions made a first psychiatric visit in the nine months before the operation and 1.5% did so in the year afterwards.
Meanwhile, 0.4% of those who had children made a first visit to a psychiatrist in the nine months prior and 0.7% did so in the year after.
This prompted an Associated Press story that declared, “The research by Danish scientists further debunks the notion that terminating a pregnancy can trigger mental illness and shows postpartum depression to be much more of a factor.”
Fergusson, lead researcher in a 2008 study that interviewed women over a 15-year period and found those who had abortions 30% likelier than other women to have mental-health issues, said that the Danish study’s “greatest weakness is that it uses measures of medical contacts as a measure of psychiatric morbidity. The problem with this type of measure is that many people with mental illness do not seek treatment, and the study may have failed to detect differences for this reason.”
An American researcher who does not hide her pro-life beliefs, Priscilla Coleman, faults the Danish study for cutting off the study period for each individual a year after the abortion. A professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University, Coleman said, “They had data on these women for 40 years. Why didn’t they use it?”
Coleman said most of the mental problems that show up in women who have babies do so in the first year, while the reverse is true for women who have abortions. “They block it out at first. They self-medicate. It shows up two to six years down the line, perhaps when they decide they want a baby.”
Coleman, herself the author of several studies of abortion’s impact, also disagreed with the Danes’ key reasoning that the high level of prior psychiatric activity of women who went on to have abortions was unrelated to the abortion. On the contrary, she contended, “that measure is likely high [more than three times greater than prior to birth] because many of the women were probably in the midst of abortion decision-making when they experienced their first psychiatric visit.”
Data Misinterpreted
Coleman argued that the equally high rate of psychiatric involvement after the abortion can plausibly be explained as ongoing mental distress caused by the abortion.
Coleman also noted that while the Danes criticized other, contrary studies for failing to allow for “third variables,” their study did not allow for such variables as “pregnancy wantedness, coercion by others to abort, marital status, income, education, exposure to violence and other traumas.”
Fergusson, a professor at Otaga University in New Zealand, predicted in 2008 that his study would satisfy neither pro-life nor pro-choice camps, but contended that it undermined “the use of psychiatric reasons to justify abortion for women having unwanted pregnancies.” Fergusson has consistently, in print and in his interview with the Register, referred to his finding of a 30% increase in psychiatric problems for women who have had abortions as “small.”
Coleman, who has worked with Fergusson, suggests this is his way of removing himself from the political debate: “He’s a pro-choicer who is honest enough to report what he found even though it contradicted his own views.”
Fergusson himself says that “Issues relating to abortion and mental health have been distorted by both sides of the debate. On the one hand, pro-choice lobbyists have sought to minimize the quite substantial evidence suggesting small increases in mental-health problems amongst those having abortions. On the other hand, those with a pro-life focus have tended to exaggerate the size of these differences.”
Pro-abortion advocates hailed the Danish study.
For example, Linda Beckman, co-author of a famous 2008 American Psychology Association report that reached the same conclusion as the Danish researchers, said, “There is still some debate, but the majority of the literature is very clear on this.”
Beckman is a psychology professor at Alliant International University in Alhambra, Calif.
Another participant in the APA report, Brenda Major, also applauded the study.
“One of the things that was nice about these data was that it was more rigorous than most that I’ve seen,” said Major, a psychology professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara. “One would like to think it would be the final nail in the coffin that first-trimester abortion causes increased incidence of mental-health problems.”
Theresa Burke, founder of the pro-life group Rachel’s Vineyard that counsels women who have had an abortion, said the Danish study “is a perfect example of the pro-choice activism that is allowed to appear in reputable medical journals. You can no longer trust science to tell the truth.”
As a result, she said, women are not being warned of the real mental-health risks of abortion and are not being treated afterwards, increasing the chances they will have relationship difficulties, eating disorders or depression, and will choose to not have children.
Register Correspondent Steve Weatherbe writes from Victoria, British Columbia.
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
Comments
Post a Comment
Saying something is “questionable” does not add anything to what science already portends, as it’s fundamental to science that everything is “questionable”. No study addresses every possibility. The notion that the Danish study should not have been “allowed to appear in reputable medical journals” is absurd. No study that appears in reputable medical journals is beyond question nor is it presented to be as such. Likewise, the claim “You can no longer trust science to tell the truth” demonstrates that the speaker doesn’t understand that science is a process for investigation. Science doesn’t claim to have the truth. Again, science holds that everything is open to question, even if there are things which many scientists resist questioning.
I don’t think that the study did a particularly good job of selecting a way to measure episodes of post-abortive mental distress. It sounds as if the study used time of first psychiatric visit as the only criterion for characterizing the post-abortive patient as having psychiatric problems. But, then, women who may have been profoundly troubled post-abortively, but who saw counselors, social workers, or primary care physicians, instead of psychiatrists, were included in the “no problems reported” group? And what about women who self-medicated with alcohol or drugs?
That would be like conducting the following experiment. Take 5,000 automobiles, and in half of them, replace a half-quart of the oil in the crankcase with a half-quart of molasses. Now run the automobiles as usual for three months. At the end of the three month period, inquire of the automobiles’ owners how many had made trips to the dealership where the car was purchased for repairs over the last 90 days.
If trips to the dealership is the only measure, that lets a lot of cars that might have indeed been badly affected are going to be erroneously blocked out of the “badly affected” category. A lot of the molasses treated automobile owners might have had their car towed several times, got fed up, and put it up on blocks. A lot of auto owners might have taken their vehicle to their local mechanic or other service station for the necessary repairs. Some do-it-yourselfers might have spent several Saturdays tearing down and cleaning the crankcases to remove the sticky goo.
In any case, owners of many badly damaged vehicles might not report obtaining repairs specifically at the dealership. But if that is my only criterion for measuring damage or trouble, then I’m going to get results very skewed toward undermeasuring the problem.
It would appear that the Danish study has fallen into the same trap, and has chosen “first visit to a psychiatrist” as the sole measure of an outcome - mental distress - that may well be treated in lots of other ways.
I guess using their logic (which is illogic), it doesn’t hurt them b/c they do not have a conscience. Their hearts and minds are numb to the truth. They are spiritually dead, so to speak. So in their eyes there is really not an issue. It is a sad reality.
These women have absolutely positively NO RIGHT AT ALL in terminating the life of their unborn child. There are approximately 1.3 million abortions performed each year in the United States. And we most certainly don’t need any more. They hereby claim and further condend that a woman has a right to do whatever she wants to with her own body. Yes,a woman does have a right to do whatever she wants to with her own body as long as she doesn’t engage in illicit sexual intercourse or terminate the life of her unborn child. That child has rights. And they must be properly respected at all times. They also further ascertain that a woman has a right to terminate the life of her unborn child in the cases of rape and incest. Absolutely positively not!! If the mother doesn’t want her child any longer she can always opt for adoption as opposed to terminating the life of her unborn child. She can also enlist the help of a friend or family member to assist her in tending to the needs of that particular child. In the Catholic Church if you procure any kind of an abortion you are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. If you so desire to get reinstated into the Catholic Church you must go to Confession on Saturday Afternoon and confess your sins to God. And you must make full amends for what you have done. After you have received full absolution for your sins and are truly repentant of them then you will be deemed worthy to get reinstated into the Catholic Church and not before. You must further resolve not to commit the same sins over and over again. As the old saying goes:Actions do speak louder than words. Showing that you are truly sorry is much more important than the actual words used. Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the first moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence,a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person,among which is the inviolable right to every innocent being to life. Since the first century,the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion,that is to say,abortion willed as either an end or a means,is gravely contrary to the moral law. Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,by the very commission of the offense,and subject to the consitions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather,She makes clear the gravity of the crime committed,the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death,as well as to the parents and the whole of society. A man and a woman have absolutely positively NO RIGHT AT ALL to engage in any kind of sexual intercourse until they are properly married both in the eyes of the Church and in the eyes of God. God instituted sex for marriage. And that’s where it belongs. Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover,it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young. Abortion is homicide. It is murder. Unintentional killing is not morally imputable. But one is not exonerated from grave offense if,without proportionate reasons,he has acted in a way that brings about someones death,even without the intention to do so. 1 Corinthians 6:13:Foods are for the stomach,and the stomach is for foods,and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual immorality,it is for the Lord,and the Lord is for the body. God raised up the Lord and he will raise us up too by his power. 1 Corinthians 6:18:Keep away from sexual immorality,all other sins that people may commit are done outside the body,but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:19:Do you not realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,who is in you and whom you received from God? 1 Corinthians 6:20:You are not your own property,then,you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God. Matthew 5:27-28:You have heard how it was said,You shall not commit adultery. But I say this you,if a man looks at a woman lustfully,he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Let us all pray that abortion comes to an abrupt end effective immediately.
After looking at the study by the Danish researchers I feel is at the very best flawed; it is in many aspects a blatant manipulation of “the facts”.
First of all how do these numbers compare to the general population of women in Denmark with the same age and gender demographics go to see a psychiatrist? If you notice the women with children were in both cases are less than half of the number seeking psychiatric help than of women having abortions.
Second this study apparently did not take into account what number of these women seeking other sources of mental-health support such as their Lutheran ministers (since that is what the large majority of Denmark is).
Additionally the report is grossly distorted by the AP – I mean if 2.9% of the women who had an abortion went to see a psychiatrist and 1.1% because of post-partum depression – how is having a child worse? If you were to use the horrible logic the 100% of the women who had an abortion are pro-abortion and less than 98.9% of the women with children are pro-life.
Please note that Roe did not “legalize” abortion. It had been legal in several states already. The decision (and Doe v. Bolton, decided same day)made it ILLEGAL for the states to limit abortion; not specifically in words, but in effect.
It’s “Otago” University, not “Otaga”. Probably confusion due to the Kiwi accent!
Pardon?
How is those having an abortion 1.5% visiting psychiatrist lower than the 0.9% of those giving birth? Excuse me, but I have always taught my students that 1.5 is higher than 0.9.
What the Danish report failed to do - like most scientific research when it deals specifically with a singlke issue - is to see the wider context. Mental Illness and its definitions change with culture and time.
Sadly, it would not be surprising to find that in societies where abortion in considered acceptable, sometimes desirable, and more often a lifestyle choice that gradually there would be fewer and fewer mental health issues associated with the act of abortion.
This research does nothing to enlighten us on abortion. Perhaps unwittingly, it has done much to enlighten us on the corrupting effect of a culture where God is absent and where moral relativism is the absolute law.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.