From a story in today’s WSJ:
For decades, the cultural battle over abortion has been about what goes on inside a woman’s womb. But more and more, the focus is shifting to what goes on inside her head.
Activists on both sides are awaiting a comprehensive report reviewing two decades of published research on mental health and abortion, to be presented this week at the American Psychological Association’s annual conference in Boston.
The report comes at a pivotal time as some judges and lawmakers have begun to make decisions in part based on peer-reviewed studies suggesting women who have had abortions are at higher risk of anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
…
Priscilla Coleman, a researcher at Bowling Green State University in Ohio whose work is often cited approvingly by abortion opponents, said at least 10% to 20% of women suffer serious, prolonged ill effects from abortion.
I wonder if lying awake at night, fretting over the whereabouts and disposition of your teenage daughter while she’s out on her first date, can be considered an ill effect of childbirth. Or prolonged exhaustion from working that second job you had to take to pay your child’s college tuition? Or manually disimpacting yourself through a haze of tears after your C section while your husband is off at Walgreens and Hy Vee at 2:30 a.m. buying enema kits and cabbage. Or what about the anxiety attached to having no choice but to bear a child you are incapable of caring for? I guess I’ll leave all these important questions to the psychological community to answer.