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Pro-Abortion Scientist Finds Abortion Causes, Serious Mental Disorders

jimmyjack

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Pro-Abortion Scientist Finds Abortion Causes, Rather Than Prevents, Serious Mental Disorders

Results indicate over 90% of abortions therefore likely committed in violation of law



CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, February 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New research from a pro-abortion New Zealand scientist has found that abortion causes serious mental disorders. The study, by David Fergusson at Christchurch School of Medicine & Health Sciences, tracked approximately 500 women from birth to 25 years. It showed that women who have had abortions, even when previous indicators are taken into account, have a much higher than average experience of serious psychological disturbances.

Fergusson had anticipated that his research would prove the abortion advocate propaganda that abortion relieves anxieties and gives women a greater sense of control over their lives. He assumed that problems experienced by post-abortive women would be traceable to mental health problems that had existed before the abortion.

In England and New Zealand, indeed, in most jurisdictions around the world, abortion is legal when a woman’s health is considered to be threatened by the continuance of pregnancy. The key to making this provision the equivalent to abortion on demand has been to define “health” as including “psychological health” as broadly as necessary to allow abortion in every case. The great majority of abortions are committed on the “mental health” myth, according to the abortion industry’s own admission.

That myth may now be seriously challenged by the research that showed women who have abortions, experience “elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders.”

The abortion industry is not going to be pleased with the results of the research. Fergusson presented his results to New Zealand’s Abortion Supervisory Committee, and according to The New Zealand Herald, the committee told Fergusson that it would be “undesirable to publish the results in their ‘unclarified’ state.”

See a more extensive review of the major implications of this research in today’s LifeSiteNews.com *Special Report* by the Elliot Institute:

Abortion Causes Mental Disorders: New Zealand Study May Require Doctors To Do Fewer Abortions
Pro-Choice Researcher Says Some Journals Rejected Politically Volatile Findings
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/060210a.html
 
from http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1540914.htm

AM - Tuesday, 3 January , 2006 08:04:28
Reporter: Tom Iggulden
TONY EASTLEY: New research out today suggests that having an abortion can increase the likelihood of young women later developing some sort of mental health problem.

The research team, based at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Christchurch, New Zealand, undertook the study as part of a range of long-term studies of 500 young Kiwis from their birth in 1977.

Tom Iggulden reports.

TOM IGGULDEN: The decision to terminate a pregnancy can be traumatic, and now a New Zealand researcher suggests there could be longer-term impacts.

Professor David Fergusson, a psychologist from the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says having an abortion is a risk factor for the onset of mental illness.

DAVID FERGUSSON: We were indeed surprised by the results. Our expectation was that we would find that young women who had abortions had higher rates, but that was due to selection factors, that is the background of young women predisposed them both to abortion and to mental health problems, and we found that that was not in fact the case.

Abortion turns out to be the most common medical surgical procedure that young women actually encounter during adolescence and young adulthood.

TOM IGGULDEN: Professor Fergusson says he hopes his research will help young women to make the decision on whether or not to have an abortion.

DAVID FERGUSSON: My view is I'm pro-choice, and I believe that women do have the right to have a choice to abortion. So I don't see these results as being against that position, but it does show, as with any surgical procedure, or any procedure of any form, that there are risks and benefits that need to be taken into account and to be weighed up very carefully.

Now, these are… and it's understanding the risks and the benefits I think which is very important in any debate about the choice to undertake an abortion.

TOM IGGULDEN: The lack of information for young women was one reason Professor Fergusson decided to research the issue.

DAVID FERGUSSON: The whole topic has been remarkably under-researched, in terms of whether… there's been a lot of debate about whether abortion does or does not have harmful effects, but the amount of research into the harms of abortion, or its benefits for that matter, has been very limited.

TOM IGGULDEN: Why do you think it is that a debate as hot as the abortion debate hasn't featured research along these lines to date?

DAVID FERGUSSON: I… my view is very clear that it has actually frightened resear… well I know that I've heard researchers say that we were foolhardy doing research in this area, because everybody knows that if you do research in this area, one side or the other is going to turn upon you, because your results don't support them.

TOM IGGULDEN: Have you encountered that very phenomenon?

DAVID FERGUSSON: No, well we had a certain amount of difficulty getting these results published, but…

TOM IGGULDEN: How so? In what way?

DAVID FERGUSSON: Well we… journals we would normally have expected to publish them just declined the papers, and I think it's… because the debate is so very hot, and I think this is particularly so in the US of A (United States of America), and it's notable that our paper was published in a British journal.

TOM IGGULDEN: Professor Fergusson expects both praise and criticism for his research from both sides of the abortion debate.

DAVID FERGUSSON: And the truth of the matter, will, I believe, lies between the two extremes. This is probably about the best study that's been done on this topic, but it is not without limitations.

TONY EASTLEY: Professor David Fergusson ending Tom Iggulden's report.

AND: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00106.htm
 
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Might explain some of the lunacy exhibited here....:roll: Now if some of the men exhibiting the same had some excuse...
 
I love it when the "No duh!" factor hits the science community square between the eyes!:doh Heelllllooooo! Women have been saying "I regret my abortion" for YEARS! How many women say "geez...I wish I would have had an abortion!" no duh....
 
What about the majority of women who don't regret their abortion? Are they unfeeling monsters? :roll:
 
I'd think to have an abortion you have to convince yourself your not killing a baby. Why else would prochoicers play the semantics game so much. Once you convince yourself you probably are well off till that one day when you are carrying a baby that you actually want to keep. Now all the sudden it's a baby!! Your going to have a baby and you go for the ultrasounds and what not. I imagine that messes you up a bit mentally. How could it not?
 
talloulou said:
I'd think to have an abortion you have to convince yourself your not killing a baby. Why else would prochoicers play the semantics game so much. Once you convince yourself you probably are well off till that one day when you are carrying a baby that you actually want to keep. Now all the sudden it's a baby!! Your going to have a baby and you go for the ultrasounds and what not. I imagine that messes you up a bit mentally. How could it not?

So what about all those women who've already had children, and still choose to abort? :roll:
 
vergiss said:
So what about all those women who've already had children, and still choose to abort? :roll:

Yeah I imagine that is mentally hard as well :2razz:

This isn't an argument about whether abortion should be legal or not. Obviously the decision to have an abortion would put mental strain on anyone. Or are you suggesting that for some that's not the case?
 
talloulou said:
Yeah I imagine that is mentally hard as well :2razz:

This isn't an argument about whether abortion should be legal or not. Obviously the decision to have an abortion would put mental strain on anyone. Or are you suggesting that for some that's not the case?

For many that's not the case, and many more never doubt their decision. If I fell pregnant today, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

I suggest you hang out with the average woman whose had an abortion and was strong enough not to fall for the nasty pro-life guilt-tripping.
 
vergiss said:
For many that's not the case, and many more never doubt their decision. If I fell pregnant today, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

I suggest you hang out with the average woman whose had an abortion and was strong enough not to fall for the nasty pro-life guilt-tripping.

First I hope it hasn't become so bad that the "average woman" has had an abortion. I would hope that most women haven't had abortions. Are you suggesting that they are that common? There is birth control after all and even though it isn't 100% effective the stuff is pretty good.

Second....while I wouldn't hang out with prolife crazies who harrass women who have made the painstaking decision to abort I also think I'm going to have to refrain from hanging with the women who don't give abortion a "second thought."

Maybe there wouldn't be as many abortions if people did give it a second thought and weren't so "flippant" about the whole thing. And feeling doubt about a decision and feeling pained about a decision are two different things. You might be forced to make a decision in life that pains you and that does not mean you will feel regret or wish you had chosen differently.
 
vergiss said:
What about the majority of women who don't regret their abortion? Are they unfeeling monsters? :roll:

No....definitely not. However if they did it without a second thought in the same manner that they'd buy a pepsi.....well then maybe.
 
talloulou said:
First I hope it hasn't become so bad that the "average woman" has had an abortion. I would hope that most women haven't had abortions. Are you suggesting that they are that common? There is birth control after all and even though it isn't 100% effective the stuff is pretty good.
In the US, the estimate is that about 43% of women have abortions at some point. And, per the CDC data, 58% of abortions are per failing contraception.

As for the pro-life lies about the certainty of women's emotional distress or serious mental illness, that is just another lie, just like all the other lies about how abortion causes breast cancer, causes suicide, or that the fetus feels pain. Yes, pro-lifers lie A LOT when they make their claims.

We are used to that and have come to expect it to the point where we simply KNOW that pro-lifers lie as certanly as we know that fish swim and birds fly.
 
steen said:
In the US, the estimate is that about 43% of women have abortions at some point. And, per the CDC data, 58% of abortions are per failing contraception.

Wow that is actually more than I would have thought!

As for the pro-life lies about the certainty of women's emotional distress or serious mental illness, that is just another lie, just like all the other lies about how abortion causes breast cancer, causes suicide, or that the fetus feels pain.

Certainty is a strong word. That's why I don't use it. Are you certain a fetus doesn't feel pain?

Yes, pro-lifers lie A LOT when they make their claims.

Well that's a hefty accusation. Does it make you feel better?

We are used to that and have come to expect it to the point where we simply KNOW that pro-lifers lie as certanly as we know that fish swim and birds fly.

hmmmm I see you don't feel as nervous about being "certain" as I do. Maybe you should take a peak at the thread on Socrates and being wise.
 
talloulou said:
Wow that is actually more than I would have thought!
You might want to look at the latest stats here:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr//preview/mmwrhtml/ss5407a1.htm

Gives you a good overview.

Certainty is a strong word. That's why I don't use it. Are you certain a fetus doesn't feel pain?
Pain is a feeeling processed in the brain's cortex. The nerve fibers from the body's sensory nerves don't even connect with the brain's cortex until the end of the 26th week of pregnancy. yes, I am sure.

Well that's a hefty accusation. Does it make you feel better?
No, it saddens me that to deal with pro-lifers, it is necessary to deal with an endless amount of lies. It would be much more pleasant to deal with facts and honesty.

hmmmm I see you don't feel as nervous about being "certain" as I do. Maybe you should take a peak at the thread on Socrates and being wise.
I said that we have come to expect this and that pro-lifers lie. Not all of them, but many.
 
steen said:
Pain is a feeeling processed in the brain's cortex. The nerve fibers from the body's sensory nerves don't even connect with the brain's cortex until the end of the 26th week of pregnancy. yes, I am sure.

But isn't a fetus considered a fetus till birth? And typical pregnancies last apx 36-40 weeks. So how can you say for certain that a fetus over 26 weeks doesn't feel pain???
 
talloulou said:
But isn't a fetus considered a fetus till birth? And typical pregnancies last apx 36-40 weeks. So how can you say for certain that a fetus over 26 weeks doesn't feel pain???

Less than ten percent of abortions in the US happen in the second or third trimester. So for the far majority of abortions, pain is definitely not a problem.

First I hope it hasn't become so bad that the "average woman" has had an abortion. I would hope that most women haven't had abortions. Are you suggesting that they are that common? There is birth control after all and even though it isn't 100% effective the stuff is pretty good.

I was talking about the average woman who HAS had abortion. However, I know that in Australia over a third of the female population have at least one abortion in their lifetime, and in the US it's over 40 percent.

Second....while I wouldn't hang out with prolife crazies who harrass women who have made the painstaking decision to abort I also think I'm going to have to refrain from hanging with the women who don't give abortion a "second thought."

Maybe there wouldn't be as many abortions if people did give it a second thought and weren't so "flippant" about the whole thing. And feeling doubt about a decision and feeling pained about a decision are two different things. You might be forced to make a decision in life that pains you and that does not mean you will feel regret or wish you had chosen differently.

I agree. No one wants an abortion like they want a a slice of cake or a new car (I hope), but I know many women who knew it's the choice they wanted to make, and do not regret it. If they regret anything, it's the circumstance they were in to have to make such a decision - but not the ultimate decision itself.
 
talloulou said:
But isn't a fetus considered a fetus till birth? And typical pregnancies last apx 36-40 weeks. So how can you say for certain that a fetus over 26 weeks doesn't feel pain???
I can't. Not in 3rd trimester.

The latest research shows it most likely to be at about 30 weeks, as the brain's cortex also has to "learn" stimuli and connect them with sensations and experiences of the sensation.

So if you want to be technical, the 3rd trimester fetus may be able to feel pain. As that is utterly irrelevant to the abortion debate anyway, that simply is not a point I am concerned about.

But if you want to, you can start a new tread about 3rd trimester abortions and we can proceed there.
 
vergiss said:
Less than ten percent of abortions in the US happen in the second or third trimester...
And only about 1.4% of all abortions happen at or after 21st week, which is still more than a month away from 3rd trimester.
 
The woman that was the plaintiff in Roe V Wade has said filing that lawsuit and having the abortion was the biggest mistake in her life.......She said she has had many bouts with depression.........

The worse part is that a lot of women have abortions for convenience or as a method of birth control..................
 
I'd be interested to see what "previous indicators" this study actually controlled for. It seems to me highly likely that abortion is correlated with certain mental disorders, but that doesn't mean it causes them. Could it be that certain mental disorders increase the likelihood that a person will get an abortion, and/or that some other unseen factor makes it more likely that a person will get an abortion AND get certain mental disorders?

As long as patients are made aware of the correlation and understand the risks involved, it's ultimately they're decision. I'm not suggesting you're necessarily framing the argument as such, but the possibility of side effects to the woman is not a valid reason to outlaw abortion.
 
Kandahar said:
I'd be interested to see what "previous indicators" this study actually controlled for. It seems to me highly likely that abortion is correlated with certain mental disorders, but that doesn't mean it causes them. Could it be that certain mental disorders increase the likelihood that a person will get an abortion, and/or that some other unseen factor makes it more likely that a person will get an abortion AND get certain mental disorders?

As long as patients are made aware of the correlation and understand the risks involved, it's ultimately they're decision. I'm not suggesting you're necessarily framing the argument as such, but the possibility of side effects to the woman is not a valid reason to outlaw abortion.
Kinda seems like clinical admission that if you get an abortion, you're screwed up....chicken or egg...it's not a good thing.
 
Felicity said:
Kinda seems like clinical admission that if you get an abortion, you're screwed up....chicken or egg...it's not a good thing.

Perhaps, perhaps not. But like I said, that doesn't mean the abortion causes one to be "screwed up." People who are "screwed up" in the first place are probably more likely to have to get an abortion. The abortion itself may just be a symptom, rather than the cause.
 
Kandahar said:
I'd be interested to see what "previous indicators" this study actually controlled for.


controlled for. ACTUALLY CONTROLLED FOR.

WTF does it mean? :confused:
 
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