Abortion and mental health

I saw this article when it came out last weekend. And sighed. Brenda Major was the lead on the American Psychological Association assessment of abortion and mental health, an assessment that basically discarded every single abortion and mental health study but one. One study. Their conclusions were based on one study. (Read more about that, here.)

So after seeing Major’s article, my exact thoughts were I wonder if Dr. Priscilla Coleman will get a response in the paper? I don’t know if she pitched to the paper and they rejected it, but she did write a response here. She is a psychologist who has conducted much of the research on abortion and mental health (in peer-reviewed journals).

Incidentally, much good literature showing negative mental health effects the result of abortion comes from Europe, and Brenda Major makes it clear she only examines US studies (some of which are great studies, too, don’t get me wrong). It’s just that she is openly admitting there’s a great sphere of literature she isn’t looking at.

The study wars continue, unabated. For me, as a non-psychologist, I’ll always believe that some things are not a choice and we don’t kill to solve our problems. It seems reasonable and logical that when we choose to kill innocents to solve our problems, there will likely be some repercussions to that. But people call me crazy. What’s a girl to do?

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Brigitte adds: I don’t understand this. To me, whether abortions have negative mental-health consequences or cause breast cancer or limp hair really is besides the point. I don’t want the studies to show one thing or the other; this isn’t where it’s at. Even if there was definitive proof that abortions increased happiness in women I’d be against it. I’m guessing pro-abortion types don’t justify their position on the lack of definitive proof that abortions cause limp hair or breast cancer or terrible mood swings. So why the endless study wars? What’s the point?

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