Abortion not seen linked with depression

Reuters ^ | Thurs., Dec. 4, 2008

[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.

[WOSG]

“For many years, Dr. Blum has served as a U.S. representative to the WHO. “

This guy is an abomination who should represent nobody.

[malkee]

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

I know of three women who had abortions 20 years ago. None of them has found a successful long-term relationship with a man.

[Lexinom]

An estimated 1.29 million American women get elective abortions each year babies die as a result of elective induced abortion.

[Ungoliant the Black]

Doubtful. It was conducted at JHU. I’m pretty sure they don’t have an abortion wing, considering that facet wasn’t listed when I looked to go there for my undergraduate degree.

/Microbiology.
//Tis the future.
///No one likes viruses.