If it’s there really is a statistical correlation, then what is so idiotic about it? It seems to me, if the claim is true, then stating it is a non-issue. So, the only issue is if the claim is untrue. The article quotes one source to make that argument:
“The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists told the paper there was no scientific evidence to suggest an abortion could make women more likely to abuse a child.”
That sounds like a pretty pat answer to me, rather than the result of any actual research into the matter. I found it hard to believe that someone would say there is a statistical correlation if they hadn’t seen a study that talked about a statistical correlation, so I tried to find those studies. I found an interview with a Dr. Philip Ney, a child psychologist who has been doing research into this issue. He says:
“Sadly enough, statistically speaking and I have to say this very carefully, statistically speaking women who have had abortions are less likely to bond to their children, and therefore these children are more likely to be abused and neglected. Also, women who were abused and neglected as children are more likely to have abortions. And I can tell you that wherever I have said this, in whatever kind of an audience, people have become really quite upset, sometimes very angry. But I think I can say that having done the research now over a number of years and published a number of papers, that that is a statistically significant connection.”
http://www.priestsforlife.org/media/interviewney.htm
I also located another article here:
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLENC/ENCYC041.HTM
which has a section titled “The Mechanisms of Child Abuse” based on Dr. Ney’s research. That article cites the following studies by Ney:
Philip G. Ney, M.D., Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Royal Jubilee Hospital. “Abortion and Child Abuse: Which is Cause, Which is Effect?” Paper presented at a conference entitled “Psychological Aspects of Abortion.” sponsored on October 31 and November 1, 1978, by the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. Also see Philip G. Ney, M.D. “Is Elective Abortion a Cause of Child Abuse?” Sexual Medicine Today, June 1980. Reprinted in the Fall 1980 Human Life Review, pages 115 to 117.
Statistics can imply all manner of upsetting or odd things regarding mass behavior, unless very carefully couched and explained. What this actually says is that emotionally damaged women are both more likely to have an abortion and to abuse their children sexually. Makes more sense, doesn’t it? At least it does to all but hardcore abortion promoters.