Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Largest ever study finds abortion increases risk of severe mental health problems by 81%
LifeSiteNews ^ | 9/1/11 | Thaddeus Baklinski

Posted on 09/01/2011 4:08:38 PM PDT by wagglebee

LONDON, UK, September 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that women who underwent an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems. The study also found that almost 10% of all women’s mental health problems are directly linked to abortion.

Conducted by Priscilla K. Coleman, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA, the study was based on an analysis of 22 separate studies and 36 measures of effect, that involved a total of 877,181 participants of whom 163,831 had experienced an abortion. The study took into account pre-existing mental health problems prior to the abortion.

“In order to avoid any allegations of bias,” Dr. Coleman explained, “very stringent inclusion criteria were employed. This means every strong study was included and weaker studies were excluded.

“Specifically, among the rules for inclusion were sample size of 100 or more participants, use of a comparison group, and employment of controls for variables that may confound the effects such as demographics, exposure to violence, prior history of mental health problems, etc.”

This makes Dr. Coleman’s study the most comprehensive of its kind to date.

“Given the methodological limitations of recently published qualitative reviews of abortion and mental health, a quantitative synthesis was deemed necessary to represent more accurately the published literature and to provide clarity to clinicians” Dr. Coleman stated in the report.

She said her research was focused on offering “the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world literature.” This, she said, would give health care practitioners “an accurate synopsis of the best available evidence in order to provide women with valid information in order to make informed health care decisions.”

The research revealed that abortion was associated with a 34% increased risk for anxiety disorders; 37% greater risk of depression; 110% greater risk of alcohol abuse and 220% greater risk of marijuana use/abuse.

Abortion was also linked with a 155% greater risk of attempting to commit suicide.

“The strongest subgroup estimates of increased risk occurred when abortion was compared with term pregnancy and when the outcomes pertained to substance use and suicidal behavior,” Dr. Coleman observed.

“Calling into question the conclusions from traditional reviews,” the report concluded, “the results revealed a moderate to highly increased risk of mental health problems after abortion. Consistent with the tenets of evidence-based medicine, this information should inform the delivery of abortion services.”

Commenting on the results of the study, Pro Life Campaign of Ireland spokesperson, Dr. Ruth Cullen said, “These findings are extremely disturbing and completely undermine pro-choice claims that abortion alleviates mental health problems. In fact, the study further proves that the opposite is the case.”

“These findings cannot be ignored,” Dr. Cullen stated. “They raise very serious issues for everyone regardless of which side they are one in the abortion debate. The best interests of women can only be served by an honest and dispassionate appraisal of the facts.”

Dr. Mary L. Davenport, president of the American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists and medical director of Nigeria’s Magnificat Maternal Health Project, said the study, “sheds important light on the mental health of women,” and exposes the “egregious cover-up of abortion complications” that are an aspect of “the abortion distortion.”

“This review, which is larger than any study to date, contradicts the recent and biased and less systematic review by the American Psychological Association, which fails to find a relationship between mental health problems and abortion,” Dr. Davenport wrote today in the American Thinker.

“The new meta-analysis also contradicts the stance of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which has been silent on the mental health impact of abortion in its official publications despite overwhelming evidence over the last two decades of abortion’s adverse effects.”

“By so powerfully linking abortion to mental health problems, the Coleman study helps us comprehend the magnitude of the damage done to entire nations by reckless, permissive abortion policies,” Dr. Davenport concluded.

An abstract of the study titled “Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995–2009” with links to the full text is available on the British Journal of Psychiatry website here.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; moralabsolutes; prolife
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-157 next last
Commenting on the results of the study, Pro Life Campaign of Ireland spokesperson, Dr. Ruth Cullen said, “These findings are extremely disturbing and completely undermine pro-choice claims that abortion alleviates mental health problems. In fact, the study further proves that the opposite is the case.”

Exactly, it is destroying society.

1 posted on 09/01/2011 4:08:41 PM PDT by wagglebee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: cgk; Coleus; cpforlife.org; narses; Salvation; 8mmMauser
Pro-Life Ping
2 posted on 09/01/2011 4:09:49 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Killing innocent people does that.


3 posted on 09/01/2011 4:12:01 PM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 185JHP; 230FMJ; AKA Elena; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; Amos the Prophet; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


4 posted on 09/01/2011 4:12:29 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Fits with and into the liberalism paradigm and agenda of the continued dumbing down of the world’s populace..../s =.=


5 posted on 09/01/2011 4:14:57 PM PDT by cranked
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

How do you run from your thoughts when you know you have taken a human life? No matter where you go there are reminders-—children playing, babies crying, women shopping for back-to-school items; playgrounds and strollers and soccer teams. There is no escape. Even though our laws say “yes,” every mother and father already knows that killing is wrong, whether they admit it or not.


6 posted on 09/01/2011 4:17:57 PM PDT by Faith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedomfiter2

No kidding.


7 posted on 09/01/2011 4:25:32 PM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Why are they finally willing to admit this? Is the cost to the government for treatment of a mental disorder higher than the cost of taking care of an extra child?


8 posted on 09/01/2011 4:27:28 PM PDT by toothfairy86
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
This is why the pro-abortion crowd seem so nut-so to normal people ~ THEY ARE!!!

Can you imagine if you did a study that compared dentists to abortionists ~ well, maybe you don't want to imagine any of that, but the abortionists undoubtedly ENJOY THEIR WORK and probably don't jump off any scales normed to Eric Dahmer.

9 posted on 09/01/2011 4:27:39 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee; 10thAmendmentGuy
"These findings are extremely disturbing and completely undermine pro-choice claims that abortion alleviates mental health problems. In fact, the study further proves that the opposite is the case.”

It's the truth. Nothing but the simple truth.

10 posted on 09/01/2011 4:31:25 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
Dr. Coleman's earlier work on this topic is available at http://www.prolifetechnology.org/paper/2005-p-coleman.pdf.

The Eighth annual Pro-Life Science & Technology Conference will be held on Saturday, September 10th at the Engineers Club in Dayton, OH. Register at the web site, www.prolifetechnology.org.

11 posted on 09/01/2011 4:33:13 PM PDT by JoeFromSidney (New book: RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY. A primer on armed revolt. Available form Amazon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: little jeremiah

Thought you weren’t going to ping me anymore? And I’ve never been in favor of a mental health exception for abortion. I’m in favor of a rape exception — although I agree that overlaps with mental health. What I’m not in favor of is women who are “depressed” because their boyfriend dumped them or because it’s rainy outside being able to get abortions because they were too stupid to use birth control. Got it? See the difference? The mental health exception is wide enough to drive a truck through. I won’t hold a woman accountable for having a child put in her against her will. I will hold all the others accountable, however.


12 posted on 09/01/2011 4:35:20 PM PDT by 10thAmendmentGuy ("[Drug] crusaders cannot accept the fact that they are not God." -Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: toothfairy86

No. The child will likely ...

1) grow up
2) pay taxes
3) raise 2.1 kids

... thus, the empirically and financially sound way, is life.


13 posted on 09/01/2011 4:53:57 PM PDT by ROTB (Sans Christian revival, we are government slaves, or nuked by China/Russia when we revolt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: 10thAmendmentGuy

> I won’t hold a woman accountable for having a child put in her against her will.

*********

You don’t believe in God, right?


14 posted on 09/01/2011 4:56:47 PM PDT by ROTB (Sans Christian revival, we are government slaves, or nuked by China/Russia when we revolt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ROTB
You don’t believe in God, right?

Not your god. My religion (Judaism) teaches that abortion is acceptable in cases of rape. I'm entitled to it. Quoting Rabbi Simmons:

"In Jewish law, a baby attains becomes a full-fledged human being when the head emerges from the womb. Before then, the fetus is considered a partial life.

So is it permitted to destroy this partial life?

Generally, no. This is illustrated by a case in the Talmud whereby a building collapsed on Shabbat. The rescue crew does not know if anyone is trapped under the rubble or not. And even if someone is trapped, they may already be dead. Despite these doubts, we push aside the restrictions of Shabbat in order to dig out the rubble - on the chance that it may result in the prolonging of human life. Why? Because every part of human life - even a doubtful, partial human life - has infinite value.

This applies to a fetus as well.

However, there can be certain factors which may create an exception. For example, when partial life threatens a full life. The Talmud discusses a case where doctors say that if the mother continues with the pregnancy, she will die. In such a case, we kill the fetus in order to save the mother. Why? Because when the partial life of the fetus is weighed against the full life of the mother, we give precedence to saving the full life.

Our question now is where to draw the line? What constitutes a "threat to the mother?"

As a general guideline, if the fetus poses a real danger to the mother - i.e. the pregnancy will aggravate a heart condition or will cause the mother to go blind - then there is room for discussion.

What about danger to emotional health? There are certain circumstances where this, too, may be grounds for abortion. For example, if the mother became pregnant through rape, and the thought of bearing this child will cause her a nervous breakdown or severe emotional trauma."

15 posted on 09/01/2011 5:02:18 PM PDT by 10thAmendmentGuy ("[Drug] crusaders cannot accept the fact that they are not God." -Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: 10thAmendmentGuy

>I won’t hold a woman accountable for having a child put in her against her will.

***************

Why hold the child accountable?


16 posted on 09/01/2011 5:03:58 PM PDT by ROTB (Sans Christian revival, we are government slaves, or nuked by China/Russia when we revolt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ROTB
More from Rabbi Simmons:

"Western society has slipped far from this Torah value. Of the approximately 2 million abortions performed annually in the United States, about 75 percent are attributed to matters of convenience (i.e. having a baby would interfere with the mother's school or work), or to financial considerations (i.e. a baby is not affordable at this time).

In Judaism, these constitute unacceptable reasons for killing the "partial life" fetus. When one's parents become old and require costly medication, should we then kill them also for financial considerations?!

Or how about when a fetus is diagnosed as having birth defects? Some argue that abortion of a handicapped fetus spares the child a "poor quality of life." Yet who said that having one arm constitutes a poor quality of life?! Should the mother of Stephen Hawking (the world's leading astrophysicist who is near-fully paralyzed) have made a decision that his was a life not worth living? Every time someone loses a limb in an accident, should we kill them?!

Or how about mental retardation? If a set of highly intelligent parents are appalled to discover that their fetus has an IQ of "only" 100, is abortion justified?

Judaism says that this type of selection process is evil. It hearkens to the Nazi program called "T-4," which systematically set out to kill all physically and mentally disabled persons."

17 posted on 09/01/2011 5:04:50 PM PDT by 10thAmendmentGuy ("[Drug] crusaders cannot accept the fact that they are not God." -Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Ya think?

It wouldn’t have anything to do with the slaughter of their own child, now would it?


18 posted on 09/01/2011 5:14:16 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 10thAmendmentGuy

I said I won’t read your freepmails. I thought this might interest you since you favor abortion in the case of rape.


19 posted on 09/01/2011 5:19:51 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

This explains a lot about feminists. Seriously.


20 posted on 09/01/2011 5:24:24 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-157 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson