Question:
Post-abortion depression: Women have a right to know?
Answer:
Eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal urges, anxiety and
panic attacks are just some of the symptoms of post-abortion
depression, according to congressional findings in the recently
introduced bill known as the Post-Abortion Depression Research and
Care Act (H.R. 4543).
The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA), aims to
provide funding for extensive long-term research on post-abortion
depression, in an effort to provide proper medical assistance to women
suffering from post-abortion trauma. Such research would also provide
medical professionals with accurate information about the side affects
of abortion. "Congressman Pitts is really concerned about the
anecdotal findings that he has read about, and the women he has spoken
to who have had abortions and have described the stress and the
emotional toll it has taken on them," said Derek Karchner, Pitts'
press secretary. "He felt that it was time — after 30 years of not
studying this — for the government to step in and see what we can do
to find out how an abortion affects women emotionally and
psychologically. … He felt this was a good time to introduce the bill
and start talking about it."
Anecdotal research has been helpful in shedding light on the serious
health issue of post-abortion depression, but it has been limited to
small samples of individuals over a short period of time, even though
many women do not exhibit signs of post-abortion trauma until many
years after their abortion.
Nearly 1.2 million out of 3 million unwanted or unplanned pregnancies
end in an abortion every year, according to congressional findings.
The resulting, often devastating, effects on women have gone
unreported or undocumented, making it difficult for them to get proper
post-abortion depression counseling and treatment.
"Accurate research can foster awareness because it makes a problem
concrete," stated Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life,
on his legislative web page. "By comparing women with different
pregnancy outcomes — miscarriage, live birth with the biological
mother raising the child, live birth with the baby given up for
adoption, and abortion — we can better determine what potential
emotional impact abortion produces, relative to other
pregnancy-related decisions. This information may help us determine
early warning signs of depression for women who chose abortion, so
that these women can receive help as quickly as possible and not have
to struggle alone for a long period of time."
According to Karchner, the bill calls for the type of comprehensive
research that will settle objections by supporters of abortion, who do
not believe post-abortion depression exists, that raising concerns
over such abortion-related problems is a disingenuous political ploy
by Right-to-Life proponents.
The Post-Abortion Depression Research and Care Act (H.R. 4543)
provides 15 million dollars to the National Institutes of Health for
extensive research on the mental and psychological health of women who
have had abortions. It also creates a grant program for the
development of treatment programs for women who suffer from
post-abortion depression. The grant money will be distributed by the
Department of Health and Human Services.
"I am very thankful that Congressman Pitts has introduced H.R. 4543,"
said Rev. Mr. David Shaffer, director of the Respect Life Office of
the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. "For years, thousands of women and
men have suffered from depression, guilt, and anger. Project Rachel, a
post-abortion ministry of the Archdiocese, has provided support and
counseling services to many who have needed assistance with
post-abortion stress. This bill will aid our efforts to expand this
service."
According to Pitts' spokesman Karchner, the bill has been well
received and to date has 31 co-sponsors. Pitt is trying to build
awareness and support for the bill while it is under review by a
subcommittee of the House Committee for Energy and Commerce.
Karchner said he is urging supporters of the legislation to "call your
representatives in Congress and ask them to co-sponsor and support it.
…
"Call your senators and ask them to introduce a similar bill on the
Senate side," he said. "Certainly, raise awareness in your local
communities through letters to the editors of your local newspaper.
Talk to your neighbors about this or get involved with local agencies
that provide assistance to women who are struggling with these
issues."
We won't discuss post-partum depression...
Abortion does not trigger lasting emotional trauma in young women who
are psychologically healthy before they become pregnant, an eight-year
study of nearly 5,300 women has shown. Women who are in poor shape
emotionally after an abortion are likely to have been feeling bad about
their lives before terminating their pregnancies, the researchers said.
The findings, the researchers say, challenge the validity of laws
that have been proposed in many states, and passed in several, mandating
that women seeking abortions be informed of mental health risks.
The researchers, Dr. Nancy Felipe Russo, a psychologist at Arizona
State University in Tempe, and Dr. Amy Dabul Marin, a psychologist at
Phoenix College, examined the effects of race and religion on the
well-being of 773 women who reported on sealed questionnaires that
they had undergone abortions, and they compared the results with the
emotional status of women who did not report abortions.
The women, initially 14 to 24 years old, completed questionnaires and
were interviewed each year for eight years, starting in 1979. In 1980
and in 1987, the interview also included a standardized test that
measures overall well-being, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.
"Given the persistent assertion that abortion is associated with
negative outcomes, the lack of any results in the context of such a
large sample is noteworthy," the researchers wrote. The study took
into account many factors that can influence a woman's emotional
well-being, including education, employment, income, the presence of
a spouse and the number of children.
Higher self-esteem was associated with being employed, having a
higher income, having more years of education and bearing fewer children,
but having had an abortion "did not make a difference," the researchers
reported. And the women's religious affiliations and degree of involvement
with religion did not have an independent effect on their long-term
reaction to abortion. Rather, the women's psychological well-being before
having abortions accounted for their mental state in the years after the
abortion, the researchers said..
In considering the influence of race, the researchers again found
that the women's level of self-esteem before having abortions was the
strongest predictor of their well-being after an abortion.
"Although highly religious Catholic women were slightly more likely
to exhibit post-abortion psychological distress than other women, this
fact is explained by lower pre-existing self-esteem," the researchers
wrote in the current issue of Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice, a journal of the American Psychological Association.
Overall, Catholic women who attended church one or more times a week,
even those who had not had abortions, had generally lower self-esteem
than other women, although within the normal range, so it was hardly
surprising that they also had lower self-esteem after abortions, the
researchers said in interviews.
Gail Quinn, executive director of anti-abortion activities for the
United States Catholic Conference, said the findings belied the
experience of post-abortion counselors. She said, "While many women
express `relief' following an abortion, the relief is transitory."
In the long term, the experience prompts "hurting people to seek the
help of post-abortion healing services," she said.
The president of the National Right to Life Committee, Dr. Wanda
Franz, who earned her doctorate in developmental psychology, challenged
the researchers' conclusions. She said their assessment of self-esteem
"does not measure if a woman is mentally healthy," adding, "This requires
a specialist who performs certain tests, not a self-assessment of how
the woman feels about herself."
• A friend discovered that she was pregnant with a fetus/'baby' which had
a brain defect. She chose to abort and try again. The next fetus/'baby'
was normal. She eventually gave birth to perfect (10) baby girl. I
should think that it would be the worst kind of post-partem depression to
give birth to a child who will never be able to make it on his./her own. In no way to I take from the women who suffer after abortions, the
emotional pain you carry with you is unreal, and never lifts. I know
cause my abortion was done at 18 weeks.
But I have found life afterwards is different, but that not all women
go through that at all. Some go on as if it was a cold, some as if it
was a car accident, everyone has different reactions to it, just as
different as we all are. They all cope with it differently, depending
on all sorts like the support structure they have etc...
Anyone who goes through with one, should go for some counselling - it
can make a big difference.
I am epileptic, which also comes with it's own brand of depression -
combine the two with bipolar disorder and you have chaos. Not nice to
live with....
