catholicsphere

The Hidden Cost of ‘Choice’

It’s seldom talked about.  Women contemplating abortion aren’t often told about it.  However, yet another study has proven that women who have abortions are at high risk for mental health problems.

On Oct. 27, 15 prominent signatories wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of London. The group included a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Others were some of the top general practitioners, psychiatrists and obstetricians and gynecologists in the country. They asked the official bodies regulating obstetricians and psychiatrists to revise their guidance on abortion as it pertains to mental health in young women.

What were the findings of this most recent study? “[Y]oung women who have had abortions exhibit twice the level of mental health problems, and three times the risk of depression, as those who had given birth or never been pregnant.”

In the United States, however, the American Psychological Association had to withdraw their statement on the subject, which cited no evidence of psychological harm to women as a result of abortion, after the New Zealand study was published.

If pro-choice folks really care about women, they have an obligation to share this information with women considering abortion.

[tags]abortion, medical, psychology, mental health, research, pro-life, pro-choice, science[/tags]