Abortion and Depression

[catsittingstill]

There is an, err... "meme" of sorts going around the anti-Choice community that abortion hurts women because it causes psychological problems.  The next time you hear some heartwrenching story of such a thing, consider this.

1.3 milliion women a year have abortions.  (From http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/329.html)

If only 1% of them had unrelated psychological problems, that would be 13,000 women a year who had an abortion and unrelated psychological problems, just by chance.  (Note that 1% is a lowball estimate; according to Wikipedia the frequency of, for example, major depressive episodes in a given year is 3-5% for men and 8-10% for women in North America. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_Depression).

From 13,000 women, it would be no problem at all to pick out a few who blamed their abortion for their psychological problems.  And that's what the anti-Choice movement is doing.

Now they're pushing to force abortion clinics to "warn" women that abortion "can cause severe psychological harm." 

You may recall "the placebo effect."  If a doctor tells someone "this pill will cure your headache," there's a fair chance that it will, even if there's nothing in it but sugar.  People tend to experience what they expect to experience.  So if the doctor tells you "this pill will cause psychological harm" it stands to reason that  a fair number of people will experience what they expect to experience. 

The "warning" harnesses the placebo effect to do harm.  It's diabolical.

But quite consistent with the anti-Choice crowd's focus on promoting policies that increase the suffering of women.
 

Comments

[mtgat]

I ran into someone promoting that meme, along with a list of "symptoms." Every woman in the thread promptly listed the ones they've experienced without having had abortions. Apparently *all* women have a few symptoms of "post-abortion stress syndrome," some of us for several days per month.

Can we force OB-gyns to warn women that pregnancy leads to permanent weight gain, loss of bladder control, and severe depression?

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Indeed, let's compare the rate of "post-abortion depression" with the rate of postpartum depression. Then there are the physical health risks, from pre-eclampsia to diabetes.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I think postpartum depression is much more common, but I don't have actual figures.

Regarding physical health risks, the maternal death rate for labor and delivery is between 12 and 14 per 100,000. Forcing 1.3 million women a year to go through that means murdering about 170 living breathing human beings a year, human beings who can look you in the eye and beg you not to interfere with their medical care.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Shoot, I'm having problems with weight gain--maybe I've had a baby without knowing it? ;-)

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Ask your doctor if Gulliblex is right for YOU!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

(snort) :-)

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Giving a baby up for adoption, on the other hand, is practically a guarantee of heartbreak. Raising an unwanted child is often miserable for both parent and child. But, no, these people only talk about abortions.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

People don't like to admit that sometimes moral choices aren't about choosing between good and evil, but between evils. And often, you don't have enough information to know which choices will have the best (or the worst) outcomes. They want to paint the picture as simply as possible, so their brains don't hurt, and so everyone will agree with them.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. Sometimes there are no good choices.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Oh, and sometimes there's more than one good choice! Often, actually. For instance, picking a church or coven or congregation. Or a club or sport. Or friends.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) Well, yes.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

It’s just that people so often talk as if there are only two choices, one good and one evil. And if they assume there’s only one good choice, there’s consequences to that. One is to limit their options. Another is to make them feel like they’re being criticized, or that they chose the “wrong” option if one of their friends points out some other good option.

So I like to point this out, and to not only point out that sometimes we have to choose between two or more evils, or two or more morally ambiguous options, but that often we can choose one (or more) of a variety of good things.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Sometimes there are a whole array of choices--and I am guessing at the moment that the more choices you have the more chance that one--or more--of them will be good. :-) And one choice being good does not mean that every other choice has to be bad.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I have certainly heard that it can lead to grief and regret that lasts for decades. I don't know how common that is, and I'm not sure anyone does--but it's certainly something to think seriously about.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, abortion can cause severe psychological harm. As in, it's within the realm of possibility.

Stubbing your toe can, as well.

Y'know how in the Star Wars prequels, it seemed like everything was a path to the Dark Side? Fear of loss, attachment, e-mohawks?

Same thing with "severe psychological harm".

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, abortion can cause severe psychological harm. As in, it's within the realm of possibility.

Stubbing your toe can, as well.

Killing one's own baby is more likely to cause severe psychological harm than stubbing one's toe.

I'm in favor of keeping abortion legal, but we have to face up to the fact that it's our current day equivalent of the infanticide that was common in Classical cultures. Pretending that it isn't, is crazy.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Jordan, I remember what happened to my last post that touched on this subject, so I am laying down a few ground rules now.

1) You may have up to three (3) comments on any one post of mine, whether in answer to the post, or to comments on the post. The fourth (4th) and all subsequent comments will be deleted.

2) If your comments annoy me too much, they will be deleted whether or not you have reached your maximum. For example, implying that people you disagree with are stupid, or malicious, or crazy, will annoy me. Deleted comments will still count toward your maximum.

If you want to maintain that you are pro-Choice, while referring to removing a half inch long, worm-shaped, mindless obligate parasite as "killing a baby," you are welcome to strike that delicate rhetorical balance on your own livejournal. You may even include a link here, provided that you don't exceed your three comments or annoy me.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) I think I get it.

I would be inclined to disagree a bit, though. While I accept that anything can *trigger* severe psychological harm, I would be inclined to think that some underlying problem must be present for it to actually do so.

I'm not a psychologist, of course, so maybe someone else knows better.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

IAWTP.

Also, the phrase you're looking for is "nocebo effect".

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of "nocebo effect" before, but I think I can work it out from context.

I'm having more trouble with IAWTP; what does that stand for?

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

"I Agree With This Post"

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thank you for explaining.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you - I'd gotten behind on my replies.