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Abortion not seen linked with depression
Reuters ^ | Thurs., Dec. 4, 2008

Posted on 12/04/2008 10:39:39 AM PST by presidio9

No high-quality study done to date can document that having an abortion causes psychological distress, or a "post-abortion syndrome," and efforts to show it does occur appear to be politically motivated, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reviewed 21 studies involving more than 150,000 women and found the high-quality studies showed no significant differences in long-term mental health between women who choose to abort a pregnancy and others.

"The best research does not support the existence of a 'post-abortion syndrome' similar to post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. Robert Blum, who led the study published in the journal Contraception, said in a statement.

"Based on the best available evidence, emotional harm should not be a factor in abortion policy. If the goal is to help women, program and policy decisions should not distort science to advance political agendas," added Vignetta Charles, a researcher and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins who worked on the study.

An estimated 1.29 million American women get elective abortions each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 25 million women globally have legal abortions every year.

Abortion is a hot-button political issue, with many voters and members of the U.S. Congress as well as state lawmakers seeking to ban it.

"The U.S. Supreme Court, while noting that 'we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon,' cited adverse mental health outcomes for women as part of the rationale for limiting late term abortions," Blum's team wrote.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: abortion; depression; postabortivewomen; psychology
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To: presidio9

Of course they are going to put out studies like this, they are now on the brink of unrestricted murder.


21 posted on 12/04/2008 11:18:44 AM PST by redk
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To: presidio9

So my best friend’s distraught calls in the middle of the night never happened. Got it.


22 posted on 12/04/2008 11:22:45 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (SARAH *** JOE *** 2012!)
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To: MrB
This guy does not seem to be an impartial "US RESEARCHER" . Here is some info when he went out to Kansas to testify against the Attorney General opinion requiring doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and social workers to report to the state any instances of child sex 15 and younger. This is an issue in many places as young girs who have been molested go for abortions and planned parenthood tries to keep it quiet thus protecting the abuser.

"On the first day of the trial, which is being heard without a jury, plaintiff witness Dr. Robert Blum, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, asserted that the Attorney General interpretation would have "a chilling effect on youths seeking contraception or treatment for sexually transmitted disease - ultimately leading to more teen pregnancies, more abortions and more disease spreading."

"Youths will be less likely to seek treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and therefore more likely to spread them to others, he said. Untreated, they would also pose significant health consequences to themselves."

23 posted on 12/04/2008 11:22:50 AM PST by icwhatudo
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To: icwhatudo
Some more gems from Dr. Blum:

"on the first day of testimony Dr. Robert Blum testified that, in general adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 are mature enough to make decisions regarding sexual conduct. However, a few minutes later, he testified that he was horrified at the prospect of children in that same age group marrying since they lacked the emotional maturity to engage in married relationships."

24 posted on 12/04/2008 11:27:07 AM PST by icwhatudo
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To: keats5

Presumably high-quality studies would be those that are large AND have a large control group of women of comparable age and socio-economic profiles, who had unwanted pregnancies, considered abortion, but ultimately decided against it. The reality is that women who have unwanted pregnancies are disproportionately suffering from various psychological/psychiatric problems to begin with, which is why they’re unable or unwilling to reliably obtain and use contraceptives.


25 posted on 12/04/2008 11:29:40 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: icwhatudo

Always notice this about the assumptions that liberals make when talking about sexual activity.

SEXUAL ACTIVITY IS A GIVEN.

They don’t even discuss, or fathom, that our society could value abstinence until marriage as something to be worked for.


26 posted on 12/04/2008 11:30:36 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: keats5
I wonder how they define “high-quality” studies. Are Christian studies automatically excluded?

Not only Christian studies, but all studies that disagree with his preconceived conclusions. Here is the thought process.

Abortion can't be wrong.

So women can't suffer ill-effects.

So studies showing that women suffer ill-effects are wrong.

So they must be the result of faulty methodology.

Voila!

27 posted on 12/04/2008 11:37:17 AM PST by Juan Medén
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To: GovernmentShrinker

That makes sense to me. Over the years, I have learned that several of my relatives, friends and acquaintances have had abortions. (People confess this kind of stuff to me; heaven knows why.) Invariably, their lives are messed up. They were messed up before the abortions, and they remained messed up after the abortions. The only two that seemed to get over the guilt and pain were two women from my church who became Christian, and experienced Christ’s forgiveness.


28 posted on 12/04/2008 11:37:33 AM PST by keats5 (Merry Christmas fellow FReepers!)
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To: MrB
Some more gems from Dr. Blum of Hopkins:

YouTube video

"Pregnancy and education do not cohabitate very well"
:30

So "family planning" is investing in human resources, investing in young people to give them the space and time to...build a nation".
:36

Through out the rest:

"Giving out condoms not enough to stop it, we must "deliver our services" Talk about it in a mosque or church...educate them that we have "services" available.

29 posted on 12/04/2008 11:39:54 AM PST by icwhatudo
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To: presidio9; All
This may possibly be of interest:

Mental illness risk ‘rises 30 per cent for women who have abortions’

30 posted on 12/04/2008 11:40:20 AM PST by Stoat (Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
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To: icwhatudo

Dr. Blum’s research interests include adolescent sexuality...

No doubt.


31 posted on 12/04/2008 11:42:55 AM PST by waverna
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To: icwhatudo

WOW! you YOU leave your kid in a room alone with this guy?


32 posted on 12/04/2008 11:44:32 AM PST by 70th Division (I love my country but fear my government!)
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To: Stoat

Obviously you’ve posted another low quality, politically motivated study.


33 posted on 12/04/2008 11:46:34 AM PST by Antoninus (America didn't turn away from conservatism, they turned away from many who faked it. - Mark Sanford)
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To: xtinct

Of course its BS.. you really think that most women are callous people with no souls? That’s the only way you could claim women do not suffer from committing infanticide.

They can play the game of calling it a fetus all they want, but every woman who’s got an IQ above 40 knows that they are killing their baby when they have an abortion, to claim that such acts will not have any psychological impact on people is flat out hogwash.

This is all about keeping the gravy train rolling, abortionists care nothing for the child in the womb, or the mother.. all they care about is the benjamins. They can and do claim otherwise, but abortion, in cases other than medical threats to the mothers life is nothing more than selfishness. There is NOTHING selfless about it.


34 posted on 12/04/2008 11:49:05 AM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: keats5

I think most don’t really have any guilt or pain over the abortion, but still have all the psych issues they had before, including guilt/pain over other things (in some cases things that were inflicted on them by someone else, such as an abusive or deserting parent, leading to their psych problems), depression about what a mess their lives are, etc.


35 posted on 12/04/2008 11:50:46 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Gay State Conservative

They tell the women that an 18 week unborn child isn’t even ALIVE! What’s a few more lies?


36 posted on 12/04/2008 11:50:46 AM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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To: HamiltonJay

absolutely correct !!!


37 posted on 12/04/2008 11:51:19 AM PST by xtinct (Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another. Plato)
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To: Soothesayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXoe-t-YUe4


38 posted on 12/04/2008 11:53:32 AM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: GovernmentShrinker
I think most don’t really have any guilt or pain over the abortion, but still have all the psych issues they had before, including guilt/pain over other things (in some cases things that were inflicted on them by someone else, such as an abusive or deserting parent, leading to their psych problems), depression about what a mess their lives are, etc.

I would argue that any woman who consents to the slaughter of her unborn child has serious psych issues before she ever entered the abortuary.
39 posted on 12/04/2008 11:54:23 AM PST by Antoninus (America didn't turn away from conservatism, they turned away from many who faked it. - Mark Sanford)
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To: MrB

Department of POPULATION, Family, and Reproductive Health

That says it all right there. Their primary goal is to control the growth of the human species by killing off the “worthless and burdensome” members. Modern day Nazis and their “progress”.


40 posted on 12/04/2008 11:54:42 AM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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