Posted on 01/02/2006 2:41:10 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
HAVING an abortion as a young woman raises the risk of developing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, a new study shows.
The findings come from the Christchurch Health and Development Study of 1265 children tracked since birth in the 1970s in New Zealand.
Researchers found 41 per cent of the more than 500 women in the study had become pregnant by age 25 with 90 pregnancies terminated.
At age 25, 42 per cent of those who had an abortion had experienced major depression at some stage during the previous four years - nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant.
The risk of anxiety disorders was also raised by a similar degree.
Women who also had at least one abortion were twice as likely to drink alcohol at dangerous levels and three times as likely to be dependent on illicit drugs.
Leader of the study, David Fergusson, said the results could undermine the legal basis for access to abortion in jurisdictions, including NSW, where termination is legal only if continuing the pregnancy would threaten the woman's physical or mental health.
The findings also tip the balance of scientific evidence towards the conclusion that abortion increases psychological distress rather than alleviating it, he said.
It's no more traumatic than having a tumor removed. That's what the pamphlets say.
Where are the laws against false advertising?
I also remember reading once a long time ago that women who had just had an abortion were more likely than the average woman to get pregnant, again, within a short amount of time. Whether that was due to other factors, like being lax with birth control, promiscuity, or if they had factored that in, I can't remember. I think the theory was they, at least subconsciously, were trying to get pregnant again.
One woman I know had recurrent nightmares about her dead, unborn daughter (she didn't know the sex, but she was a dau in her dreams) asking her why she had killed her. She ended up in therapy as a result. I would have too.
ROFLMAO!!! And having kids doesn't?
How do you know? You don't. But it makes you feel good to say it, doesn't it?
Abortion increases stress - and it's pretty rough on the baby too!
"unborn daughter asking why she had killed her"
So, did the therapist and her work out an excuse why she had killed her?
Well no freekin crap!
The risk of anxiety disorders was also raised by a similar degree.
Women who also had at least one abortion were twice as likely to drink alcohol at dangerous levels and three times as likely to be dependent on illicit drugs.
If my bloody, shredded babies were appearing in my guilt ridden dreams whispering, "Mommy, why did you shred me to a bloody pulp?" it'd make me mental just like those women.
It's like cholesterol. There's the good kind and the bad kind. The kind that comes from raising children to adulthood is the good kind, the sort that builds character. The kind that comes from murdering helpless infants, in contrast, eats away at whatever little bit of character a person has left.
Oh, ok...thanks for the explanation.
More than 500 women in the study. Let's use 500, since it doesn't say how many more. Of these there were 41% or 205 who became pregnant, and of these 90 had abortions and 115 carried to term. 295 women never became preganant.
42% or 38 of the 90 suffered depression.
More than 21% of the 295 never-pregnant females suffered depression or more than 62 cases.
No information is given about the percentage suffering depression out of the 115 who had babies.
The numbers in the study are too small to be statistically significant, and it does not address the fact that pregnancies carried to term often result in depression and impairment of the mother's mental health.
And the aborted babies were fine, too?
I was addressing the fact that the tentative conclusions in the last two paragraphs aren't very well substantiated by the data given.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
I've known a couple of close friends who had abortions years ago, and the guilt, regret, and sorrow lasts for decades. Every woman and teenaged girl should know the truth about abortion. Not just the lying propaganda - then we'd really see abortion rates drop.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
"pregnancies carried to term often result in depression and impairment of the mother's mental health."
?????
?????
Freaking lie. Naturally any life changing event is called "stress" by the mental health crowd, just because it takes adjustment. And raising children has got to be one of the hardest jobs there is, especially in a world gone mad. But your statement is just not true. Having a baby causes impairment of the mother's mental health? What planet to do you live on?
As I recall saying on another similar thread, maybe the stress and depression are more directly caused by the conversation that led up to the abortion....
Woman: I'm pregnant. We could get married....
Man: In your dreams. Get rid of it and get lost.
It's not only an abortion the woman has to contend with but a broken heart.
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