Posted on 08/30/2006 4:36:00 PM PDT by wagglebee
The Journal of Medical Ethics published the results of the survey of 187 women in July.
The survey polled women seeking obstetric and gynecological services at a Wisconsin women's health clinic and they were asked to give their opinions about receiving information for elective medical procedures.
In the survey they ranked the kind of information they would want beforehand and ranked the severity of different kinds of complications form a medical procedure ranging from a headache to death.
The results showed 95 percent of patients wished to be informed of all the risks of a procedure and 65 percent would want to know all of the possible alternatives beforehand -- not just those alternatives a doctor presents.
In the ranking of risks, women placed mental and emotional health consequences very high on the list -- only slightly below the risk of death or heart disease.
Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and one of co-authors of the study, said the finding may be especially important vis-a-vis abortion decisions since recent peer-reviewed studies have linked abortion to increased rates of mental health problems.
Some problems coming from an abortion, according to various studies, include suicidal behavior, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and sleep disorders.
"Doctors should anticipate that most women desire information on every potential risk, even risks that doctors may judge to be less serious or inconsequentially rare, and they will generally consider this information to be relevant to their decisions regarding elective procedures," the authors wrote in the study.
Reardon, in a statement sent to LifeNews.com, said the survey "demonstrates that women have a high level of interest in being informed of any risk that is statistically associated with the procedure, including psychological risks."
While abortion businesses may regard some abortion risks as relatively minor, Dr. Reardon said women don't regard them that way.
"It also reveals that while some experts may consider some associations, such as a 10 percent higher risk of breast cancer, as relatively unimportant, most women would consider it to be very important to their decision making process," he said.
Reardon also said the study refutes the claim that abortion practitioners should withhold information about studies identifying abortion risks simply because he believes that future studies may someday disprove the earlier findings.
"Our survey shows that most women don't want doctors to screen which information they are told about risks," he said. "They want to judge the evidence for themselves."
Reardon concluded that the study showed women "clearly prefer to be fully informed about all possible complications, even if abortion providers insist that the causal links between abortion and these statistically linked complications have yet to be fully proven to the abortionist's satisfaction."
Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor at Bowling Green State University, was another one of the authors of the new study.
Citation: PK Coleman, DC Reardon, MB Lee, "Women's preferences for information and complication seriousness ratings related to elective medical procedures," Journal of Medical Ethics, 32:435-438 (2006).
Related web sites:
Elliot Institute - http://www.afterabortion.org
And the baby butchers should be required to disclose all of this.
Pro-Life Ping
Id say the #1 risk is to the life of the baby. Followed closely by the risk of going to hell on the guilt ridden express train.
Uh oh, this is not good news for NOW or Planned Parenthood. For groups that claim to be so concerned about women, they sure like to keep them in the dark when it comes to abortion, but then it might not serve the agenda...
"A new survey shows women considering an abortion want to know information about the risks and dangers associated with it beforehand."
Hooey! This infringes on the rights of the Doctors that are trying to calm the patient before cutting the baby out, whether alive or not. Call the ACLU! (sarc)
Well said.
***
I think, in order to let prospective abortion customers fully understand the risks, they ought to go through an exercise (or see a film with hollywood quality special effects) where they imagine themselves resting peacefully in the warmest, most comfortable bed they have ever known...having perfect dreams...totally provided for without a care in the world...and then, suddenly, a nightmare begins...
Risks?
Well, for one thing -- half of the patients die.
A baby's heartbeat (NOT 'a fetus'! A baby!) is visible on a sonogram at approx. 6 weeks. I think there should be a law requiring a woman to see an ultrasound of the life inside her, to see that tiny blinking heartbeat, beating away, and be told of all the things that are going on with that baby's development at whatever stage the baby is at. Here's a great website they should be required to read up on as well!
http://visembryo.com/baby/index.html
I couldn't agree more!
Yea, that little thing called 'informed consent' loses its punch when it isn't all that 'informed.'
They're concerned about the risks of Plan B causing the abortion of an already-existing human being, no doubt...
No, the real problem here is with a culture that has come to tolerate, accept, and even build with the assumption of legal abortion-on-demand. We're all conditioned to its normalcy due to 30+ years of legalization. We don't care. Without a prick in conscience we can turn about and (rightfully) condemn the brutal policies of Hitler and Stalin while remaining blind to the holocaust that dwarfs their actions unfolding in our own backyard.
We don't care.
We need abortion.
It's all about us (the strong), and our convenience.
A baby is a commodity, like an automobile. Don't want it? Throw it out.
"A new survey shows women considering an abortion want to know information about the risks and dangers associated with it beforehand."
REALLY???? These women actually want to know the risks before a surgical procedure???!! How unbelievable!(sarcasm)
One more thing. I believe 7 women have died after taking Plan B. Incomplete abortions resulting in lethal infections. Now Plan B is over the counter with only an age restriction. Hillary is quite happy with the new availability of the drug; she also wants the age restrictions lifted. What do the Dems have to do with it?
Bump
I can vouch for this, absolutely. When I was a young student nurse, I had to do a rotation at PP and I never once heard them tell a patient about the risks of this choice.
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