Women who feel pain and regret after ending their child’s life are being erased to promote the latest pro-abort talking point that post-abortion trauma is a “myth.”
Abortion advocates have gone to shocking lengths in the ongoing campaign to normalize abortion, even comparing the procedures to simple root canals or mole removals.
Now, a new study is being touted as evidence that pre-existing conditions are to blame for the apparent link between abortion and suicide, not the emotional implications of intentionally having one’s child poisoned in the womb or torn apart and crushed by forceps.
The Daily Mail praised the study:
Research has now revealed women who have abortions actually appear more likely to try to kill themselves a year before the abortion than afterwards.
University of Maryland experts studied a total of 523,380 women in Denmark to track possible links between abortion and suicide attempts. The study looked at data spanning more than 17 years for women aged between 18 and 36, focusing on first-time abortions and failed suicide attempts.
It found that, although women who had abortions were more likely to try to end their lives than those who didn’t, the abortion itself wasn’t to blame.
The research was published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.
A top abortion researcher, however, immediately noticed several glaring issues with the study.
Although he had not conducted a detailed review of the new study, Dr. Joel Brind of Baruch College told LifeNews that the study appeared deeply flawed even at a glance.
By only examining non-fatal suicide attempts, the study seems to skew the numbers away from an abortion-suicide link right off the bat
The new study did report findings of a 2.5-fold increased risk of unsuccessful suicide attempts both before and after abortion, which amounts to a five-fold increased risk compared to women with no history of abortion, to which Brind responds:
So even if you conclude that the association is not causal in terms of the abortion being responsible for the attempt, does it not indicate that those seeking abortions are at risk for suicide already, and should be referred for mental health counseling INSTEAD of getting an abortion?
Dr. Brind also noted the obvious exclusion of “seminal research” on the topic by Mika Gissler which “reported a threefold increase in (successful) suicides compared to nonpregnant women and six-fold compared to women with a live birth.”
In 1997, Gissler’s large-scale study found that the rate of successful suicides among post-abortive women in the prior year was three times higher compared to women in the general population and six times higher compared to women who gave birth.
Its conclusion states:
The increased risk of suicide after an induced abortion indicates either common risk factors for both or harmful effects of induced abortion on mental health… Increased risk for suicide after an abortion indicates either common risk factors for both or harmful effects of induced abortion on mental health.
Australian researchers have also drawn attention to the abortion-suicide link. In a 2013 report, the Queensland Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council stated:
Suicide is the leading cause of death in women within 42 days after their pregnancy and between 43 days and 365 days after their pregnancy. There appears to be a significant worldwide risk of maternal suicide following termination of pregnancy and, in fact, a higher risk than that following term delivery.
The potential for depression and other mental health issues at this time needs to be better appreciated. Active follow-up of these women needs to happen. Practitioners referring women for termination of pregnancy or undertaking termination of pregnancy should ensure adequate follow-up for such women, especially if the procedure is undertaken for mental health concerns.
LifeNews points to even more similar studies demonstrating an undeniable link between abortion and suicide. Each one, however, is being conveniently ignored in favor of the “groundbreaking” new Lancet study.
In other words, post-abortive mothers experiencing regret and trauma are being sacrificed right alongside their children on the altar of “abortion rights.”
While the pro-abortion crowd will apparently ignore or reject its defectors who come to regret their own abortions, there is hope for these women.
Organizations such as CareNet, Rachel’s Vineyard, and others offer free assistance to women struggling with guilt and depression after abortion.
This article was first published on the Activist Mommy website, and is republished with permission. You may not use, copy, distribute, publish, syndicate, sub-license and transmit the whole or any part of such material in any manner and in any format and/or media without the permission of the original publishers.
