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February 7th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) — Women with a history of mental
illness do not seem to be at increased risk of readmission to a
psychiatric hospital after having an abortion in their first trimester, a
new study suggests.
The findings, which appear in the February issue of the Archives of
General Psychiatry, support several previous studies showing that
women who undergo abortion do not face a higher risk of mental health
problems afterwards.
But anti-abortion advocates say the psychological risks of abortion are
still not fully understood.
“The take-home message from our study is that having a first-time,
first-trimester induced abortion does not influence readmission risk,
since risk of readmission is similar before and after the abortion
procedure,” said study author Dr. Trine Munk-Olsen, an epidemiologist at
Aarhus University in Denmark.
Women in this latest study were considered at risk because they had a
record of at least one previous admission to an inpatient psychiatric
facility. “We speculate that having mental health problems influences
women’s decision to have an induced abortion, but this decision did not
appear to influence the illness course in this group of women,” Monk-Olsen
said.
Rachel Jones is a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute
in New York City, which says it works to advance sexual and reproductive
health and rights. “This is one more piece of good-quality research
showing that there isn’t an increased risk of serious mental health
problems after abortion. The findings should provide further reassurance
that abortion does not cause significant mental health problems,” she
said.
The researchers used registry information of all women born in Denmark
between 1962 and 1992 who had a record of one or more psychiatric
admissions at least nine months before either a first-time abortion during
the first trimester or childbirth. There were 2,838 women with records of
mental disorders who underwent a first-trimester abortion between January
1994 and December 2007.
During the period from nine months before to 12 months after the
abortion, 321 women were readmitted to a psychiatric hospital. By
contrast, 5,293 women with records of mental disorders gave birth to their
first child during the same study period. Among these women, 273 were
readmitted from nine months prior to 12 months after childbirth, the study
showed.
Although rates of readmission were higher overall among women having
abortions, readmission rates were higher a month afterwards in the group
of women who decided to go through childbirth, the study authors said.
Risk factors for readmission included a parental history of mental
disorders. Risk was also highest among women in both groups who had been
hospitalized closer to the time of their pregnancy, abortion or birth. The
risk of readmission was reduced in women with one or more children at the
time of abortion, according to the study.
Priscilla Coleman, a professor of human development and family studies
at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, took issue with the new
findings.
She noted that the study was funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett
Foundation, which, Coleman said, supports research on abortion rights.
And the women in the study were only followed for one year after their
abortion or the birth of their child, but women may experience emotional
upheaval from the experience years later, she said.
“The design is so problematic that the results really don’t mean a
lot,” Coleman said. “There is a wealth of data in the literature building
a strong case that abortion could be detrimental to a certain proportion
of women. We need to be helping women and not telling them, ‘It is no big
deal.'”
Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family
Research Council, an anti-abortion group based in Washington, D.C., said,
“The [study] findings can’t be 100 percent trusted.
“I think of the women that I know in my own life, and many of the
stories I hear from women who suffer from post-abortion syndrome and
really profoundly regret their abortion,” she said.
More information
Learn more about mental illness at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
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