“Having an Abortion Doesn’t Lead to Depression” declares the Times.com headline. It’s a catchy title, but it oversimplifies (misrepresents, some might say) the results of the study it purportedly reports. The study was conducted by Danish researchers, and its results were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine under the more subdued title “Induced First-Trimester Abortion and Risk of Mental Disorder.”
So it’s not just any abortion that doesn’t lead to mental disorders. According to the abstract: “The finding that the incidence rate of psychiatric contact was similar before and after a first-trimester abortion does not support the hypothesis that there is an increased risk of mental disorders after a first-trimester induced abortion.”
It’s a catchy abstract, but it oversimplifies (misrepresents, some might say) the actual research. The Danish researchers recorded only the incidences of women and girls who have sought “psychiatric contact” within the twelve months after their first abortion. So, strictly speaking, the researchers are correct in their conclusion: Their research—funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, a big abortion supporter—does not support the hypothesis that abortion increases the risk of mental disorder.
But to reach that conclusion they had to strictly limit the subjects they researched. Women who suffer mental problems but don’t seek medical help, women whose mental disorders present later than a year after their abortions, and women who have had multiple abortions were excluded from the study.
As Georgette Forney, co-founder of Silent No More Awareness Campaign, noted, “It’s as if the people who designed this report set it up to exclude women at the greatest risk to suffer post-abortion problems.” It certainly does seem that way.
January 28th, 2011 | 12:35 pm
I noticed the discrepancy between CNN’s take and Reuters’. CNN ( http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/26/abortion.mental.health/ ) made ZERO mention of the fact that the abortions in the study were early, whereas the first word of Reuters’ headline ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/26/us-early-abortions-idUSTRE70P8ZK20110126 ) was “Early.” A separate, interesting point the study made was that while women who get early abortions don’t show an increase in mental health services obtained after the abortion when compared to before (both about 15 per 1000 women), that frequency is multiples more than women who went ahead and had their babies (4 per 1000 before the pregnancy, 7 per 1000 after childbirth).
January 28th, 2011 | 12:39 pm
There seems to be an implicit assumption in the study that contacting a psychiatric provider constitutes a mental disorder. The study does not reveal the results of the psychiatric evaluations after contact.
January 28th, 2011 | 1:05 pm
Let’s not forget that nearly 90% of all induced abortions are performed during the first trimester. Ms. Duke’s protests might incline some to suppose otherwise.
January 28th, 2011 | 3:52 pm
Joe’s point seems most salient. They are using provider contact as a surrogate for the real thing, depression experienced. I guess we’ll have to read the article to see how they showed the correlation between those two. From the first hand stories I’ve read, none of those deeply regretting their abortions sought psychiatric help. That is a limited and self-selected sample but it is suggestive.
January 28th, 2011 | 4:03 pm
The top researcher on the subject has already said it’s bunk:
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/26/new-study-denying-abortion-mental-health-link-contains-flaws/
January 28th, 2011 | 6:24 pm
This is the sort of research that is so basically flawed that when pro choice advocates want to ridicule pro lifers they will hold it up as an example.
January 28th, 2011 | 7:40 pm
This is a similar trajectory to the breast cancer link. Post abortion mental deterioration was under the radar for a while, unlike the breast cancer link, and the pro-aborts were therefore not publishing junk articles en masse. It starts now, and the ACOG will use these garbage articles to write recommendations and guidleines. Committees will be formed, Louise Brinton will be invited to speak. The APA will issue press releases and align with the abortion/Buffett lobby.
As for C. Ehlrich’s comment, most surgical abortions need to be performed no earlier than 8 weeks (the average is 10-11 weeks) because the abortionist has to know if he got all her parts out (arm, check. leg, check. . . ). If there is no psychiatric harm, why not let the mom herself count the limbs?
January 31st, 2011 | 2:40 pm
[...] Meghan Duke pointed out at First Thoughts, “to reach that conclusion they had to strictly limit the subjects they researched. Women who [...]
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