You’re not going to believe this but a mainstream news organization just published a piece on the mental health risks associated with abortion.
I was checking out Jill Stanek’s site and she linked to this story which is darn interesting and amazing, if you ask me.
Kudos to CBS for even dealing with this subject. All the other news organizations have buried every study that indicates that abortion does anything less than make unicorns smile and rainbows three times brighter.
(CBS) Do women who have an abortion risk their mental health?
A provocative new study shows that women who have an abortion face an increased risk for mental health problems including substance abuse, anxiety, and depression.
“Results indicate quite consistently that abortion is associated with moderate to highly increased risks of psychological problems subsequent to the procedure,” the authors wrote in the study, published in the September 1 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
For the study, researchers analyzed data on 877,000 women, including 164,000 who had an abortion. They found women who had an abortion experienced an 81 percent increased risk for mental problems.
Women who had an abortion were 34 percent more likely to develop an anxiety disorder, 37 percent more likely to experience depression, 110 percent more likely to abuse alcohol, 155 percent more likely to commit suicide, and 220 percent more likely to use marijuana.
Nearly 10 percent of the problems could be attributed to abortion, the authors concluded.
“There are in fact some real risks associated with abortion that should be shared with women as they are counseled prior to an abortion,” Dr. Priscilla Coleman, professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University, told the Daily Telegraph.
About 827,000 women have an abortion in the U.S. each year.
Previous research hasn’t found a definitive link between an abortion and a woman’s mental health.
Mind you, they put in an opposing viewpoint but hey, we’ll take what we can get.
Like I said, kudos to CBS for not burying the study. And maybe the story will actually help some women realize why they’re suffering or maybe it’ll prevent an abortion or two. Let’s face it, Big Abortion wants abortion kept in the dark. The more light, the better. CMR huzzahs to CBS.
Exit question: Does anyone know if this story was actually shown on television or aired on the radio? Or is it just the internet? Either way, it’s good news and we’ll take baby steps when they’re all we can get.
September 2, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Wow. Hopefully this gets more press. – Dan Lower / KKairos, whose google account can't seem to function on this blog.
September 2, 2011 at 7:24 pm
That is pretty unbelievable!
September 2, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Of course, the claim will be made that if abortion were more socially acceptable and if "fringe elements" on the right didn't spend so much time stigmatizing women who sought "reproductive health care" then these women wouldn't have any problems.
September 2, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Here's the study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/199/3/180.abstract
September 3, 2011 at 1:35 am
I didn't see anything about the report on British broadcast media. Just on Prolife websites. And the last line of CBS article is incorrect. There have been several primary studies which have shown that abortion increases significantly the risk of mental illness in women. LyndaI didn't see anything about the report on British broadcast media. Just on Prolife websites. And the last line of CBS article is incorrect. There have been several primary studies which have shown that abortion increases significantly the risk of mental illness in women. Lynda
September 3, 2011 at 1:56 am
If men took responsibility for the children they beget there would be no abortion and no anxiety.
Susan B. Anthony said so many times in her speeches.
September 3, 2011 at 1:17 pm
And you get the same results and worse from postpartum depression; lots of hormones running amok with or without an abortion.
At any rate just another argument for birth control because no matter how scary you try and make abortion (fear really is your motivator in all things isn't it?) women will still have them if they want. They used to be illegal and that didn't stop it, just made it that much more dangerous.
Reality, you have to work in it, I know it's hard with your surreal beliefs but still.
September 3, 2011 at 5:00 pm
The women I know who have had abortions have a real "edge" to their personalities. The DNA of the child, I have been told, remains in the woman for a good long while. To abort a child doesn't stop them from being a mother, hormonally or psychologically. It just makes them a mother of a dead child which needs to be mourned and society will not let them mourn their children because the society believes the child never existed.
September 3, 2011 at 6:07 pm
We have known about this for decades. If you know a woman who has had an abortion, have them find the closest 'Project Rachel"…it is care for those who are post-abortive. One of my Theology profs, Dr. Sue Harvath, has worked with post-abortion counseling for years after finding that an abortion was the traumatic moment that started severe psychological problems. That was over 20 years ago. Maybe the light of truth will scald away the lies that the abortion industry has been telling for years.
September 5, 2011 at 11:46 pm
The decision to end the life of your baby for any reason is to interfere with God's plans. How can anyone overcome this traumatic life changing decision. Anyone who commits murder at any stage of life must relive the past and the what could have been. Most women who have abortions are under an extreme amount of stress. I imagine most would change their minds if they could.
September 6, 2011 at 1:47 pm
>The decision to end the life of your baby for any reason is to interfere with God's plans.
How can someone interfere with your god's plans? Isn't he omnipotent? How could something happen in its creation that it didn't want / plan / know was going to happen?