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STUDY: WOMEN HAVING ABORTIONS MORE LIKELY TO BE ABUSED BY PARTNER. Published by researchers at La Trobe University in Australia, the study finds that women who are abused by their partners are more likely to have an abortion of an unexpected pregnancy than to keep the baby. Women having abortions were also more likely to be from lower income families.

The researchers studied 9,683 young Australian women between the ages of 22 and 27. The information came from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health, which contains health data compiled by the government.

Women who had abortions in their teens or early 20s were more likely to have been abused by a partner than those who carried the pregnancy to term, they found.

The scientists published the results of the study in today's edition [3April07] of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

In their article, they wrote, "'Women experiencing violence and abuse can be subject to coercive sex and unprotected intercourse, leading to a higher rate of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies."

Angela Taft and Lyndsey Watson led the study and Taft said that young women appear to have less control over sex or contraception decisions when they're with an abusive partner.

"'You could say that young women don't feel they have the right to say no," she said.

"What can society do about this problem?" Dr. Taft asks. "The take home message is that if we want to reduce the rate of abortion and unwanted pregnancy in Australia, especially among teenagers, we need to reduce violence against women."

"Also healthcare providers and pregnancy counseling services should ask women seeking [abortions] about their experiences of partner abuse and if necessary, refer them to supportive agencies," she added.

The study backs up the contention made by research in the United States that an inordinate number of women who have abortions do so because they feel pressure or coercion from a husband or boyfriend.

Dr. David Reardon of the Elliot Institute says they are a part of a widespread problem. 

ABORTION LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF CHILD ABUSE STUDY FINDS. Authors concluded no longer can be any doubt that abortion significantly impacts health of women and their families. A history of abortion is associated with more frequent acts of physical aggression toward subsequent children, according to a new study published in the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology.

The findings were drawn from an analysis of data on 237 low-income women in Baltimore who had physically mistreated or neglected at least one of their children or allowed someone else to do so. Researchers controlled for a history of miscarriage or stillbirth, as well as for family history, aggression by the woman's partner and other key factors.

While all the women in the study had some connection with child maltreatment or neglect, the authors found that those who reported a history of abortion reported significantly more frequent acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting or beating, directed at their children.

Priscilla Coleman, a professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University and lead author of the study, suggested that the link between abortion and child abuse may be influenced by a number of key factors, including unresolved grief, having felt pressured into an unwanted abortion, and disruption in maternal bonding with subsequently born children.

Unresolved grief issues, Coleman noted, "may negatively impact parental responsiveness to child needs, trigger anger, which is a common component of grief, and/or increase parental anxiety regarding child well-being." Some research indicates that grief may be more difficult to resolve if women undergo an unwanted abortion due to pressure from others. In one study, cited by Coleman, 64 percent of American women with a history of abortion reported feeling pressured to abort by others.

Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and a leading researcher who has been involved in more than a dozen studies on the impact of abortion on women, said that this latest study confirms the general findings of previous studies linking abortion with a higher risk of abuse or neglect.

"Previous research has also shown that abortion is linked with a subsequent increased risk of alcoholism, drug use, anxiety, rage, anger and psychiatric hospitalization," Reardon said. "Any of these factors, individually or in combination, can significantly increase the personal and family stresses that can lead to maltreatment or neglect."

A previous study by Coleman found that a maternal history of abortion was linked to less supportive home environments for subsequently born children and that subsequent children exhibited more behavioral problems than the children of women without a history of abortion.

A New Zealand study that tracked young women from birth to 25 years of age found that young women who had abortions were significantly more likely to experience subsequent depression, suicidal behavior and substance abuse, even after the researchers controlled for previous mental health problems.

"Taken all together, these studies show that the mental health effects of abortion don't stop with women," Reardon said. "They will impact their families, too."

Coleman's team suggested that professionals should be aware of the links between abortion and maternal mental health problems and "sensitively inquire about any history of abortion and related, unresolved negative emotions when working with women engaged in or at risk for aberrant parenting."

Finally, the authors concluded that while additional research is always needed, there can no longer be any doubt that abortion significantly impacts the health of women and their families.

"For years, abortion was construed to be a benign medical procedure carrying little if any potential for lasting adverse effects," they wrote. "However ... the last several years have brought greater understanding that abortion for many women is an issue with profound physical, psychological, spiritual and lifestyle dimensions that are intimately tied to many aspects of their lives."

Sources:

PK Coleman, VM Rue, CT Coyle, CD Maxey, "Induced Abortion and Child-Directed Aggression Among Mothers of Maltreated Children," Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology, 6(2), 2007. http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijpn/vol6n2/abortion.xml

VM Rue et. al., "Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women," Medical Science Monitor, 10(10): SR5-16 (2004).

PK Coleman et. al., "The Quality of the Caregiving Environment and Child Developmental Outcomes Associated with Maternal History of Abortion Using the NLSY Data," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(6): 743-57 (2002).

DM Fergusson et. al., "Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(1): 16-24 (2006).

Additional studies linking abortion to child abuse:

PG Ney, T Fung, AR Wickett, "Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Child Abuse and Neglect: Four Studies," Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal, 8(1):43-64 (1993).

M Benedict, R White, P Cornely, "Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors and Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 9: 217-224 (1985).

E. Lewis, "Two Hidden Predisposing Factors in Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 3: 327-330 (1979).

P. Ney, "Relationship Between Abortion and Child Abuse," Canadian J. Psychiatry, 24:610-620 (1979). [13March07, SPRINGFIELD, IL, LifeSiteNews.com]

VIRGINIA MAN CHARGED WITH CAUSING GIRLFRIEND'S ABORTION WITH SPIKED DRINK. A Virginia man has been charged with trying to cause his girlfriend to have an abortion. Daniel Riase, 21 years-old, faces two charges of trying to poison his girlfriend and was also charged Tuesday with administering a drug with the intention of causing an abortion or miscarriage.

Hampton Police Cpl. Allison Good told the Daily Press newspaper that Riase was arrested on February 25 when spiked his girlfriend's drink and cause the abortion. Good indicated that Riase allegedly crushed two misoprostol pills, used in the abortion drug RU 486, and put them in the drink of his 19-year-old partner I-Sharii Best. He purchased the drugs online. After consuming the drink, Best began to bleed and drove herself to Sentara Careplex Hospital in Hampton. There, medical officials confirmed she had a miscarriage.

Best told the newspaper that Riase wasn't happy when she told him in January that she was pregnant with his child. He had talked frequently about not wanting to be a father, she said, and had pressured her to have an abortion but she refused. The dispute over the abortion led to a fight where Riase hit Best and it led to assault charges, but she later dropped them when he pretended to be interested in the baby and appeared supportive of her health and well-being. [16Mar07, Hampton, VA (LifeNews.com]

EUROPEAN COURT ORDERS PRO-LIFE POLAND to Compensate Mom Who Was Denied Abortion
The European Court of Human Rights handed down a 6 - 1 ruling today which demanded that Poland compensate a mother who claims she was refused an abortion based on discrimination due to her sex and her visual disability.
 
Poland’s current laws only allow for the unborn child to be killed in its mother’s womb in cases of rape, when the child is seriously malformed, and when the health of the mother would be in grave danger were she to carry the child to full term.
 
Tysiac claims that in 2000 she found out that she was pregnant with her third child. At that time, according to her complaint, she was warned by numerous doctors that her pregnancy and delivery of another child could result in a deterioration of her myopic eye condition.
 
She further claims that the gynecologist that she saw destroyed her abortion referral saying that her health was not in serious danger and her condition did not warrant an abortion under Polish law.
 
Tysiac also claims that, after delivering her child, she suffered what was diagnosed as a retinal hemorrhage which rendered her “significantly disabled” and in fear of going blind. Tysiac, who raises her three children on her own, receives a monthly disability pension of 140 euros.
 
After giving birth to her third child and having her case dismissed in Polish courts, Alicja Tysiac took her case to the European Union court in 2002 with the help of the “human rights” NGO, Interights.
 
According to the court’s official summary of the judgment, Tysiac also complained that “no procedural and regulatory framework had been put in place to enable a pregnant woman to assert her right to a therapeutic abortion, thus rendering that right ineffective.”
 
A typical strategy for abortion advocates has long been to use emotion generating hard cases, (often falsified, as in the two Supreme Court cases that legalized abortion on demand in the US) to open a wedge that inevitably leads to full abortion on demand.
 
In 2004, the United Nations Human Rights Committee reprimanded Poland for its pro-life laws and demanded that the strongly Catholic nation “liberalize” its abortion laws. In January of this year, the UN committee that oversees the ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’ also took Poland to task over several pro-life issues including “accusations” that the Polish government promoted natural family planning over contraception and allowed pro-life doctors the right to employ a “conscience clause” in abortion matters.
 
Poland submitted her European Union accession treaty with the caveat that "no EU treaties or annexes to those treaties would hamper the Polish government in regulating moral issues or those concerning the protection of human life."
 
In recent months, both the Polish president and the deputy prime-minister have publicly voiced their continuing belief in traditional family values.
 
Read the Court’s press release & full ruling: