Major New Research Devastating to Abortion; Times Flips It the Other Way Around

By Tom Gilson Published on December 15, 2016

Abortion proponents have been telling us for years the damage it would do to women if abortion were made illegal. Now a major gold-standard study has shown that argument to be fatally flawed. In a bizarre twist, however, The New York  Times has reported on the research as if it favored the pro-abortion position. 

The Times article, written by Pam Belluck, carries the headline “Abortion Is Found To Have Little Effect On Women’s Mental Health.”

Science journalism can be tricky. Sometimes it’s embarrassingly oversimplified, sometimes it’s distorted, especially on topics with potential political implications. It’s always important to consult the original source.

What It Says

Here’s what the actual research report says: Researchers compared mental health outcomes for women who had been granted abortions and those who had been denied it due to the baby’s gestational age. It found that those who seek abortions have similar mental health outcomes whether they are granted the abortion or denied it for reasons of law or policy beyond their control.

What It Tries To Say

But the Times tries to extend its findings far beyond that. For example:

Some states require women seeking abortions to be counseled that they might develop mental health problems. Now a new study, considered to be the most rigorous to look at the question in the United States, undermines that claim. 

Is that true? No, because of what isn’t said in either the Times article or the original research.

What It Doesn’t Say

The research report says nothing about the effects of counseling women before abortion. All of the study participants had visited abortion clinics seeking the procedure. Some of them were allowed to abort, others were denied; none were actually persuaded not to have the abortion.

In other words, the study is completely silent on the mental health effects of deciding not to have an abortion, whether that’s because they know it is wrong, or they’re persuaded by family members not to have it, or even if there’s no facility nearby where they might hope to obtain an abortion. 

So there’s nothing in this study that measures the effect of moral persuasion.

What It Says Again

If a woman chooses abortion but is coerced out of it against her will, her long-term mental health is likely to be the same as if she were allowed it.  

What can we conclude from that, then, about the value of counseling or persuading women not to have an abortion? What can we conclude about the value of making a moral choice? What can we conclude about the difference it makes when a family member supports a mother carrying her pregnancy to term? 

In other words, what do we really know (from this study, that is) about the full range of differences between having an abortion and not having one?

Practically nothing — except that being coerced out of having a desired abortion doesn’t seem to help the mother much. (It helps the baby. A lot.)

The Bombshell: No Evidence for a Major Pro-Abortion Argument

But there is more — and it’s a bombshell. Abortion proponents are so eager to tell us this study undermines arguments against abortion, they’ve missed its devastating assault on their own position.

They say it’s good for women to have “choice.” For example, “Reproductive choice empowers women by giving them control over their own bodies,” and “Women who receive abortions are less likely to suffer mental health problems than women denied abortions” (abortion.procon.org). 

Care to show some evidence for that? Previous research studies have differed on it. This “gold standard” study says there is no such evidence. Women who want an abortion but are legally denied the opportunity may not come out any better for it, but they don’t come out any worse, either.

In fact the evidence strongly suggests that legally denying abortion has no long-term adverse mental health effects on women at all. So much for that “pro-choice argument”!

Policy Implications

Is there any mental health argument in favor of abortion, then? Not according to this study. Women’s mental health ought not be a consideration in abortion policy — not because women’s health is unimportant, but because this study shows that legally allowing or denying abortion has no real effect on it.

Does this study give any comfort to people who want to end requirements for pre-abortion counseling on mental health effects? Yes and no; but the yes part is silly. Yes, where abortion is illegal due to the age of the child in the womb, there’s no evidence-based mental health reason to counsel women against an abortion. But what’s there to counsel about when it’s already against the law?

Meanwhile, though, this study says nothing about counseling (persuading) a woman to carry the child to term. This study adds nothing of value to policy discussions on that question — though you can count on many others acting as if it does, along with the Times.

But the big news is that there’s no evidence that legal restrictions on abortion have any negative impact on women’s mental health or well-being.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Scarcity Mindset
Robert Morris
More from The Stream
Connect with Us