Posted on 01/14/2009 4:27:10 PM PST by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- While numerous studies confirm abortions cause women subsequent mental health issues, abortion advocates downplay them so abortion isn't seed in a negative light. But one doctor who counsels women after abortions says the proof is in the actual experiences of women who regret their choice.
Dr. Linda Mintle, who counsels women after abortions, says she sees problems such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse on a regular basis in the women who have had abortions.
"Abortion is a loss," Mintle told CBN News on Wednesday.
"It's a loss of a life and so it only makes sense that even though you thought in your mind that this is what you wanted to do, it feels very out of control once they do it, so that out of control loss feeling results in anxiety," she explained.
To deal with the psychological pain of an abortion they grieve, Mintle says women often turn to drugs or alcohol and eventually develop additions to those substances.
While groups such as the American Psychological Association, which is controlled by abortion advocates, deny the abortion-mental health link, Mintle told CBN News that an honest evaluation of post-abortion women reveals it exists.
"I have to tell you that I feel there is a lot of political pressure put on researchers and therapists to not really talk about the down side of abortion because there is such a strong pro-choice lobby in this country," Mintle said.
She told the news service that women should be given information before an abortion telling them of these post-abortion mental health complications.
Mintle's comments follow the release of three new studies from researchers across the globe that confirmed an abortion-mental health issue link exists.
Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, and her colleagues published a study in December in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
The research team found induced abortions result in increased risks for a myriad of mental health problems ranging from anxiety to depression to substance abuse disorders.
The number of cases of mental health issues rose by as much as 17 percent in women having abortions compared to those who didn't have one and the risks of each particular mental health problem rose as much as 145% for post-abortive women.
For 12 out of 15 of the mental health outcomes examined, a decision to have an abortion resulted in an elevated risk for women.
"What is most notable in this study is that abortion contributed significant independent effects to numerous mental health problems above and beyond a variety of other traumatizing and stressful life experiences," they concluded.
Also last month, researchers at Otago University in New Zealand reported their findings in the British Journal of Psychiatry and found that women who have abortions have an increased risk of developing mental health problems.
The study found that women who had abortions had rates of mental health problems about 30% higher than other women. The conditions most associated with abortion included anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders.
Abortions increased the risk of severe depression and anxiety by one-third and as many as 5.5 percent of all mental health disorders seen in New Zealand result from women having abortions.
A third study, from a team at the University of Queensland and published in the December issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, found women who have an abortion are three times more likely to experience a drug or alcohol problem during their lifetime.
The study showed that women who had experienced an abortion were at increased risk of illicit drug and alcohol use compared with women who had never been pregnant or who gave birth.
ALL people have a conscience that reminds us of our behavioral choices.
Romans 2:14-15 (New King James Version)
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
Now, women who have an abortion know full well what they did, and they choose one of two paths: guilt (and maybe repentance), or justification.
All very interesting, but I'd be more interested in knowing how many times you have been banned from Free Republic prior to signing up three weeks ago.
As for FR, I think there ought to be room here for conservatives who don’t believe in Satan or God and don’t believe abortion is the only issue that matters.
I guess you don't believe in rights either since those come from God.
As far as abortion, if it doesn't matter to you WHY are you on a thread about abortion. There are topics on FR which don't interest me (I could care less about American Idol for instance) and I stay off of those.
The reality is that abortion DOES matter and it matters just as much for abortion supporters like you as it does for those of us who oppose it. YOUR agenda is to make abortion not matter to the pro-life movement because you want us to be silent and we won't.
Your theory is untestable.
You cannot re-run history, take abortion out of the picture, and examine “black crime” statistics.
I can equally conjecture that “black crime” would have been further reduced without policies such as abortion and welfare that promoted sex and procreation outside of marriage.
More fathers = less crime. You can’t honestly say that’s false.
The mental health issues stem from the conscience constantly screaming at you
“YOU KILLED YOUR OWN BABY!”
Mental health issues involved — eh, I’m skeptical.
So, you are incapable of seeing how guilt can create mental and emotional problems?
Well, since your other post was removed I will respond to this one.
You are not only a pro-abortion troll, you are a pathetic racist.
I wouldn’t be so quick to call him a racist.
He was probably referring to the association between crime and abortion made in “Freakonomics”.
And I'm getting a buzz off of the negative ions.
Wow... a “surgical zot” that removed all his postings.
I guess this troll was too pathetic to deserve a colorful zot.
And “Freakonomics” was inherently racist. It would almost be like saying that an antisemite isn’t really antisemetic but was just referring to “Mein Kampf”.
Did Freakonomics refer directly to the black population and abortion correlating with lower crime rates?
I read it but don’t remember the specifics of that analysis.
I’m not certain that Steven Levitt has ever directly said that black crime is reduced because of abortion, but he has said that crime was reduced in the 1990s because of abortion.
The reality is that crime was reduced in the 90s because so many states abolished parole (which is also why the prison population rose).
You remind me of a funny braindead lib (I repeat myself) that was unable to understand why the crime rate was way down despite the fact that prison populations were at an alltime high.
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