Facts still sacred despite Ireland’s spectrum of conflicting views on abortion – The Irish Times – Fri, Jun 29, 2012 : Very good data-driven analysis. “Pro-life” groups claim abortion is a serious mental health risk for women. Youth Defence claims women who opt for an abortion rather than carrying to term or giving the baby up for adoption suffer mental maladies such as depression, suicide and other problems. But this is at heart a scientific claim, and can thus be tested. […] Psychologist Dr Brenda Majors studied this in depth and found no evidence that [“post-abortion syndrome”] exists. As long as a woman was not depressive before an abortion, “elective abortion of an unintended pregnancy does not pose a risk to mental health”. The same results were found in several other studies […] Essentially these studies found there was no difference in mental health between those who opted for abortion and those who carried to term. Curiously, there was a markedly increased risk to mental health for women who gave a child up for adoption. A corollary of the research was that while women did not suffer long-term mental health effects due to abortion, short-term guilt and sadness was far more likely if the women had a background where abortion was viewed negatively or their decisions were decried — the kind of attitude fostered by “pro-life” activists.”
(tags: pro-choice pro-life abortion data facts via:irish-times research science pregnancy depression pas)