I have heard anecdotal stories about abortion and depression, but I found this article from New Zealand interesting: Abortion Researcher Confounded by Study.
In the emotionally charged debate over abortion, no one could accuse Professor David Fergusson of ideological bias.
He is "pro-choice" personally, but he admits his latest research – which suggests a strong link between abortion and mental illness – is liable to be used and misused as ammunition by the pro-life brigade.
Researchers found that at age 25, 42 per cent of women in the study group who had had an abortion also experienced major depression at some stage during the past four years.
This was nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had chosen to continue a pregnancy.
…..
The Abortion Supervisory Committee, which supervises all legal and compliance aspects of terminations, concluded that it would be undesirable to publish the results in their "unclarified" state as they would be used as "a political football".
In a letter to the committee in June 2004, Professor Fergusson said he was fully aware of "the circus" that publication would provoke.
But it would be "scientifically irresponsible" not to publish the results just because they were controversial, he wrote in the letter, released under the Official Information Act.
"To provide a parallel to this situation, if we were to find evidence of an adverse reaction to medication, we would be obliged ethically to publish that fact," he told NZPA.
I find this article interesting partly for what it says about abortion but also because of what it says about the researcher.
Leave a Reply to Michael KruseCancel reply