The American Psychological Association stacked a panel with abortion advocates to release a new report concluding that abortion causes no mental health problems for the mother; independent research concludes otherwise.
-- From "American Psychological Association Ignores Abortion-Mental Health Problem Link" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor 8/13/08
The panel's report concluded women who have abortions may experience some grief and a sense of loss, but it claimed there is no evidence showing abortion causes significant mental health issues.
The report also claimed that many of the studies concerning abortion and its link to subsequent mental health issues are flawed.
However, those studies, including a recent one from researchers in Norway, are published in peer-reviewed medical journals and none of them appeared to receive complaints about their methodology at the time.
A study earlier this month in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found 30 percent of women who purchase the abortion drug mifepristone on the Internet experience depression and negative feelings accompanying the abortion.
The New Zealand study found that having an abortion as a young woman raises the risk of developing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
According to the study, women who have abortions were twice as likely to drink alcohol at dangerous levels and three times as likely to be addicted to illegal drugs.
To read the entire article (above), CLICK HERE.
-- From "Post-Abortion Women Challenge Psychologists’ Claim of ‘Harmless’ Abortions" by Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer CNSNews.com 8/17/08
Women who have had abortions, scientists, and pro-life advocates are joining forces to refute the findings of an American Psychological Association (APA) task force that claims women who have one abortion do not experience any more mental problems than women who decide to give birth.
“The APA should advocate a closer examination of the grief and warn women of the well-documented dangers (of abortion),” Theresa Burke, founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, a Christian recovery program for post-abortive women, said in response to the task force’s finding.
“Instead, the APA continues to censor information, de-legitimize research, prohibit opposing points of view, obstruct discussions, avoid scholarly debates and promote intolerance of those who are negatively impacted by abortion,” said Burke.
Alveda King, niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.Alveda King, niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., evoked her famous uncle’s call for civil rights for all people, including pregnant women and their unborn children, in reaction to the report.
“(Abortion) violates the civil rights and human rights of the baby in the womb and then it hurts the mother,” King, who has had two abortions and a miscarriage related to those abortions, told CNSNews.com. She added that most post-abortion women she has met say they have suffered irrevocable damage.
“The (APA) wants to say we are the exception to the rule … but for every one woman they can find that says they weren’t harmed by abortion … they could find 10 women who were,” said King.
To read the entire second article, CLICK HERE.
