NEW! Norwegian Study Finds Abortion-Depression Link

NEW! Abortion Linked Prematurity Contributes to the Number of Infant Deaths

Planned Parenthood Teams Up With Girls Inc For Pro-Abortion Workshops

Scotland Abortions Continue Increasing Despite Morning After Pill Push

Planned Parenthood in Nebraska Settled Near-Death Botched Abortion Lawsuit

Judge Upholds Constitutionality of KS Abortion Law

Risk Factors May Have Shut Down Abortion Business in South Dakota

NEW!  UNFPA's Annual Report Focuses on "Reproductive Health," Meaning Abortion

NEW! Book Probes Sex-Selection Abortions and Infanticides in India...

NORWEGIAN STUDY FINDS ABORTION-DEPRESSION LINK. A relatively recent study from Norway  finds a link between abortion and subsequent depression.

Titled, "Abortion and depression: A population-based longitudinal study of young women," the research was conducted by Willy Pedersen and published in the 2008 Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 424-428 (2008)DOI: 10.1177/1403494807088449; http://sjp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/36/4/424

ABSTRACT.Aim: Induced abortion is an experience shared by a large number of women in Norway, but we know little about the likely social or mental health-related implications of undergoing induced abortion. International studies suggest an increased risk of adverse outcomes such as depression, but many studies are weakened by poor design. One particular problem is the lack of control for confounding factors likely to increase the risk of both abortion and depression. The aim of the study was to investigate whether induced abortion was a risk factor for subsequent depression.

Methods: A representative sample of women from the normal population (n=768) was monitored between the ages of 15 and 27 years. Questions covered depression, induced abortion and childbirth, as well as sociodemographic variables, family relationships and a number of individual characteristics, such as schooling and occupational history and conduct problems.

Results: Young women who reported having had an abortion in their twenties were more likely to score above the cut-off point for depression (odds ratio (OR) 3.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0—6.1). Controlling for third variables reduced the association, but it remained significant (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.7—5.6). There was no association between teenage abortion and subsequent depression.

Conclusions: Young adult women who undergo induced abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression.

Thursday, August 07, 2008 http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/EWThrockmorton/11580240/
Norwegian study finds abortion-depression link
A relatively recent study from Norway finds a link between abortion and subsequent depression. Titled, Abortion and depression: A population-based longitudinal study of young women, the research was conducted by Willy Pedersen and published in the 2008 Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, volume 36, pages 424–428. Here is the abstract:

    Induced abortion is an experience shared by a large number of women in Norway, but we know little about the likely social or mental health-related implications of undergoing induced abortion. International studies suggest an increased risk of adverse outcomes such as depression, but many studies are weakened by poor design. One particular problem is the lack of control for confounding factors likely to increase the risk of both abortion and depression. The aim of the study was to investigate whether induced abortion was a risk factor for subsequent depression.

    Methods: A representative sample of women from the normal population (n5768) was monitored between the ages of 15 and 27 years. Questions covered depression, induced abortion and childbirth, as well as sociodemographic variables, family relationships and a number of individual characteristics, such as schooling and occupational history and conduct problems. Results: Young women who reported having had an abortion in their twenties were more likely to score above the cut-off point for depression (odds ratio (OR) 3.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0–6.1). Controlling for third variables reduced the association, but it remained significant (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.7–5.6). There was no association between teenage abortion and subsequent depression.

    Conclusions: Young adult women who undergo induced abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression.

This was a longitudinal study with very high response rates at all responses time over the course of the effort (from 97% at time one to 82% at time four). The research team used questions about depression from the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), a well-accepted mental health measure.

Dr. Pedersen further describes the strengths of this study and notes other recent work which found a link between abortion and mental health.

    This study is robust in several respects. The response rate is high, respondents were observed over a considerable length of time, and measures of the key variables are well validated. We have also controlled for a large number of other factors pertaining to the lives of the women that are likely to affect whether a pregnancy is brought to term or aborted, and the likelihood that depression will set in at a later date. Nonetheless, the sample’s abortion rate does indicate either underreporting or a slight non-response bias. The sample is, moreover, relatively small, making the abortion and childbirth groups small as well. The study would have benefited from a larger sample.

    Studies in this area present an inconsistent picture. Most identify abortion as a mental health risk factor, but they typically have selected samples, poor response rates and/or inadequate control for other aspects of the women’s lives that could affect future risk of depression. The most robust study was conducted in New Zealand [4,8]. This study found that abortion seemed to be a risk factor for poor mental health, including the likelihood of depression.

    Reactions to abortion are, one may assume, strongly coloured by the local sociocultural climate. A sense of guilt, loss and lower self-esteem are assumed to mediate between an induced abortion and later onset of depression [21]. New Zealand’s abortion laws are much more stringent than Norway’s [8], and this in itself could possibly increase the risk of social stigmatization and negative sentiment regarding abortion. It is therefore worth noting that such reactions are also experienced by many Norwegian women following an abortion. In light of this finding, women who terminate a pregnancy would probably benefit from postabortion counselling.

Next week, the APA Mental Health and Abortion Task Force report is slated to be considered by the APA Council of Representatives. If that report adopts the findings of this and the New Zealand research reports noted in the Pedersen article, it would represent a departure from prior APA positions. Stay tuned…
Dr. Warren Throckmorton is a Columnist, Speaker, Professor of Psychology and Fellow for Psychology and Public Policy at Grove City College.
[http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/EWThrockmorton/11580240/
Cross Walk; ALL Pro-Life Today, 7Aug08]

ABORTION LINKED CONDITION CONTRIBUTES TO THE NUMBER OF INFANT DEATHS. According to new statistics released 30 July 08 from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), premature babies - babies born too soon and too small - accounted for a growing proportion of infant deaths.

When linked with previous studies that have shown that abortion increases a woman's chance of having a baby prematurely, the conclusion is that women who have had abortions are more likely to bear children who die as infants or suffer from severe health issues.

According to "Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set," Vol. 57, No. 2, of the National Vital Statistics Report, low birth weight and preterm birth are leading causes of infant mortality and the rates of both have increased steadily since the mid-1980s.

Babies who died of preterm-related causes accounted for 36.5 percent of infant deaths in 2005, up from 34.6 percent in 2000.

More than a half million babies are born premature (less than 37 weeks gestation) each year and those who survive face the risk of life long health consequences, such as breathing and feeding problems, cerebral palsy, and learning problems.

Mortality rates for infants born even a few weeks early, or "late preterm" (between 34 weeks of gestation) were three times those for full-term infants.

The findings of the NCHS help identify abortion as a leading cause of infant mortality, with former studies having revealed that women who have had abortions in the past are much more likely to give birth prematurely.

An article appearing in a 2007 Journal of Reproductive Medicine concluded that nearly 32 percent of "very preterm" U.S. births, that is, before 32 weeks gestation, are due to the mother having had a prior abortion.

Furthermore, after analyzing data on 1,943 very preterm births, 276 moderately preterm babies and 618 full-term controls, Dr. Caroline Moreau of Hopital de Bicetre and colleagues concluded in 2005 that women with a history of abortion were 1.5 times more likely to give birth very prematurely (under 33 weeks gestation), and 1.7 times more likely to have a baby born extremely (under 28 weeks gestation) preterm.

Their findings were reported in the April issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Related:  New Study Confirms Abortion Increases Risk of Future Premature Births
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042906.html

Study: Previous Abortions Linked With Pre-Term Birth and Cerebral Palsy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102602.html
[30 July 08,  Tim Waggoner, Ottawa, www.LifeSiteNews.com,
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08073009.html ]  

PP TEAMS UP WITH GIRLS INC FOR PRO-ABORTION WORKSHOPS. Girls Inc. is back in the news over abortion and now the group for young women is teaming up with Planned Parenthood.

The organization, which has come under fire for adopting a pro-abortion position, is conducting workshops in Montana with the nation's largest abortion business. The girls group came under fire in 2005 for adopting a statement saying it backs abortion and supports the Roe v. Wade decision that ushered in an era of approximately 50 million abortions.

At the time, pro-life groups called for a boycott of the American Girl doll because the company making them teamed up with Girls Inc. for a promotional.

Now, Jim Sedlak of STOPP International, a Planned Parenthood watchdog, says the pro-abortion groups are teaming up for a workshop for high school girls at the Planned Parenthood Heights Clinic in Billings, Montana.

"As parents, we need to be very careful about what types of programs and activities we allow our children to participate in," he said. "A program with a name such as 'Girls, Inc.' doesn't sound bad, does it?

Actually, Girls, Inc. is a pro-abortion group and one of many pro-death groups that are listed on [pro-life boycott lists]." [18July08, LifeNews.com, #4370, Billings, MT]
 


A NEBRASKA PLANNED PARENTHOOD SETTLED NEAR-DEATH BOTCHED ABORTION LAWSUIT filed by a Nebraska woman after a botched abortion that resulted in the perforating of her uterus and a severe loss of blood.

According to doctors who treated the woman after the failed abortion, the procedure could have taken her life.  The woman had the abortion at the Lincoln abortion center in August and she was ultimately taken to a local hospital where she lost 80 percent of her blood and experienced severe pain, according to AP.

An ultrasound done prior to the abortion found the woman was eight weeks pregnant and had a tilted uterus.

After the botched abortion, physicians had to perform an emergency hysterectomy on her and she is now unable to have children.

The unnamed woman filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs on September 3 with the help of Lincoln attorney Jefferson Downing. Downing filed the suit in Lancaster County District Court and the woman has issued a complaint to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department.

"Our client has filed these complaints to bring to light the negligent actions of Planned Parenthood and Dr. (Meryl) Severson," Downing said in a statement. Attorney James Snowden filed a response to the lawsuit on Planned Parenthood's behalf and claimed the woman was informed of the risks of having an abortion beforehand and that Severson did the abortion "with great care." On Tuesday, Snowden said Planned Parenthood settled the lawsuit and told AP the terms of the settlement are confidential. [28May08, www.LifeNews.com, #4331, http://www.lifenews.com/state3263.html, Lincoln, NE]


 
SCOTLAND ABORTIONS CONTINUE INCREASING DESPITE MORNING AFTER PILL PUSH. The number of abortions in Scotland has risen for the third straight year despite a heavy push for women to use the morning after pill.

Abortion advocates claimed selling the Plan B drug over the counter would reduce abortion rates, but the new figures reveal the number of abortions rising again.

Abortions in Scotland rose four percent according to a report from the British national health Service and now number 13,703. That increase came after NHS reported 13,081 abortions in 2006, up from 12,603 the previous year -- an increase of nearly 3.8 percent.

The new numbers represent an all-time high for the number of abortions done in that part of Great Britain since abortion was legalized in 1967.

Not only is the increased promoting of the morning after pill resulting in more abortions, not less, the number of women having repeat abortions is increasing as well. NHS reports more than a quarter of women, 26.3 percent, who had an abortion in Scotland last year had at least one prior abortion before that. That's 3,600 women who had one or more abortions prior, according to the government's statistics. [Glasgow, Scotland (LifeNews.com, 28May08, http://www.lifenews.com/int763.html]

JUDGE UPHOLDS CONSTITUTIONALITY OF KS ABORTION LAW. A Sedgwick County judge ruled 27July08 that the Kansas abortion statute is constitutional, denying a defense motion to dismiss a criminal case brought against one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers. 

The 35-page decision handed down by Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens spurns several challenges to the statute under both the U.S. Constitution and the Kansas Constitution brought by defense attorneys for Dr. George Tiller.

"Abortion jurisprudence in this country has been going through an evolutionary process since Roe V. Wade in 1973," Owens wrote, adding that in light of all the interpretations, the statute survives all the constitutional challenges.

Former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller in June 2007, alleging he broke a 1998 state law requiring that a second, independent Kansas physician sign off on late-term abortions of viable fetuses.

Two doctors, without financial or legal ties, must conclude that if the pregnancy continues, the mother will die or face "substantial and irreversible" harm to "a major bodily function," which has been interpreted to include mental health.

Tiller relied on Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, of Nortonville, for his second opinion on abortions in 2003, and she had a financial relationship with him that is against the law.

Tiller's attorneys contend that the law creates an unconstitutional burden on a physician's right to practice medicine and a woman's right to obtain an abortion. They also argued that the Kansas law was unconstitutionally vague. His defense attorneys also challenged it on the basis of violating a right to travel because of the requirement a woman be seen by two separate physicians in Kansas.

In a detailed decision citing extensive case law, Owens upheld the Kansas statute against each of those challenges. His decision had been pending since a November hearing on the matter.

Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for the Kansas Attorney General's office, said Monday after the decision was handed down that prosecutors will move forward with the criminal case.

The decision came as a disappointment for Tiller's defense team, but was hailed by abortion opponents...

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life, said the ruling is good news because Neuhaus wasn't independent of Tiller. She said Neuhaus made her living "rubber stamping late-term abortion approvals for Dr. Tiller."

"I think the court has made a correct decision," Culp said. "There was no doubt in our minds that the law was constitutional, but you have to depend on judges to interpret these things."

Culp said the judge's ruling shows that the 1998 law is a good one, with "fail-safes" in place to prevent unwarranted late-term abortions, if officials will enforce them.

"If ever anything needed to go to trial, this needed to go to trial," Culp said.

The decision also was hailed in Wichita by Operation Rescue, which has been mounting a campaign against doctors and businesses which that work with Tiller and his clinic.

"Today's ruling by Judge Owens vindicates our efforts to bring Tiller to justice," Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said in a news release. "All along, we knew that it wasn't the law that was faulty, but it was Tiller's interpretation of the law that was faulty. This gives us a glimmer of hope that we could eventually see some shred of justice."

Still pending before the judge is a defense motion regarding the number of jurors who will hear the case. State law limits juries in misdemeanor trials to six members, but Tiller's defense has requested 12. A status conference is scheduled for Tuesday, when a firm trial date is expected to be set.

In 2003, Attorney General Phill Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, began investigating Tiller's activities. He filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against the doctor in Sedgwick County in December 2006, only to see a judge dismiss them the next day for jurisdictional reasons.

Morrison later filed the 19 misdemeanor charges. Attorney General Steven Six inherited the case after Morrison stepped down amid a sexual scandal.

Monnat said abortion opponents have been trying to intimidate and threaten doctors in Wichita who provide the required second opinion.

"Dr. Tiller, however, will not be deterred by these people but rather will continue to work within the law as he has done for 30 years to help women get the health care they need and deserve, Monnat said. "Dr. Tiller looks forward to having his day in court."

[28July08, By R. HEGEMAN, Associated Press;
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/723692.html
The Kansas City Star; Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka contributed to this report] 

  [Planned Parenthood of South Dakota may or may not be doing abortions by the end of the first week, 30July08. Local pro-life people report 'business as usual'.]  
RISK FACTORS SHUT DOWN ABORTION BUSINESS IN SOUTH DAKOTA.
Why?  Because a federal court has upheld a new law that would require them to disclose to women the risk factors of abortion. These are statistically proven risk factors that reliably identify which women are at highest risk of post-abortion psychological problems, including depression and suicidal behavior.

That's not the way the story is being told in the national media, however. Following Planned Parenthood's shutdown, the mainstream media has adopted PP's spin on the story, focusing on how this &ld