From the Ms. wire service:
A new review published in the journal Contraception by Johns Hopkins researchers found no link between abortion and psychological trauma or long-term effects on mental health. The review also found that “studies with the most flawed methodology consistently found negative mental health consequences of abortion [and that] scientists are still conducting research to answer politically motivated questions,” according to US News and World Report.
Scientists motivated by politics apparently strongly believe in “seek and ye shall find.”
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Here’s the abstract:
Abortion and long-term mental health outcomes: a systematic review of the evidence
Claims that women who have elective abortions will experience psychological distress have fueled much of the recent debate on abortion. It has been argued that the emotional sequelae of abortionmay not occur until months or years after the event. Despite unclear evidence on such a phenomenon, adverse mental health outcomes of abortionhave been used as a rationale for policy-making. We systematically searched for articles focused on the potential association between abortion and long-term mental health outcomes published between January 1, 1989 and August 1, 2008 and reviewed 21 studies that met the inclusion criteria. We rated the study quality based on methodological factors necessary to appropriately explore the research question. Studies were rated as Excellent (no studies), Very Good (4 studies), Fair (8 studies), Poor (8 studies), or Very Poor (1 study). A clear trend emerges from this systematic review: the highest quality studies had findings that were mostly neutral, suggesting few, if any, differences between women who had abortions and their respective comparison groups in terms of mental health sequelae. Conversely, studies with the most flawed methodology found negative mental health sequelae of abortion.
Feminist Philosophers 