From: parker@ehsn17.cen.uiuc.edu (Robert S. Parker)
Subject: Re: PAS or Post Abortion Syndrome
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:35:36 GMT

nyikos@math.scarolina.edu (Peter Nyikos) writes:

>In <1993Jan19.071004.26268@watson.ibm.com> margoli@watson.ibm.com (Larry Margolis) writes:

>>In <nyikos.727390591@milo.math.scarolina.edu> nyikos@math.scarolina.edu (Peter Nyikos) writes:
>>>In <1993Jan11.220529.33020@watson.ibm.com> margoli@watson.ibm.com (Larry Margolis) writes:
>>>
>>>>In <1is6vsINNgue@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ai245@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Chris Thomas) writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>Does anyone believe there is such a disease characterized by depression,
>>>>>nightmares, etc., which could last for a liftime?  This theory is being
>>>>>touted on another board by Anti-choice folk.
>>>
>>>There is such a "disease", though not every woman who has had an abortion
>>>is struck by it, and there are various degrees of seriousness.  One of the
>>>worst cases was Nancyjo Mann, as recounted in her foreword to _Aborted
>>>Women, Silent No More_.  I've read most of the trilogy, _The Gulag
>>>Archipelago_, and I would venture to say that not more than a few percent
>>>of "zeks" suffered as much as she did.
>>>
>>>>No.  All the evidence indicates that "post-abortion" syndrome is a myth.

>Note the shift in topic.  From disease to syndrome, yet preceded by
>the sentence "No".  Typical of the mindgames Larry loves to play.

Shift?  Chris Thomas mentioned a "disease" on a thread talking about the
so-called "post abortion syndrome".  I suppose you think he was talking
about something totally unrelated to "PAS", but most of us understood that
the "disease" he was talking about was the same thing as the so-called "PAS".
How did you attribute this to "mind games" on the part of Larry Margolis?

>>>So, Larry, what's *your* definition of post-abortion syndrome?

>>syndrome (n)
>>DEFINITIONS:
>>    a group of signs and symptoms that occur
>>    together and characterize a particular
>>    abnormality
>>syndromic (aj)
>>(c) G. & C. Merriam

>>While some women experience post-abortion *trauma*, all the evidence indicates
>>that there is no such thing as post-abortion *syndrome*;

>Playing the game your way,  there may be several different post-abortion
>syndromes.

>> that there is no
>>link between abortion and mental health; that the trauma is usually the
>>continuation of pre-existing symptoms.

>The above statements are demonstrably false where Nancyjo Mann and many,
>many other women are concerned.

>>To quote from the JAMA:
>>   Scientific studies indicate that legal abortion results in fewer
>>   deleterious sequelae for women compared with other possible outcomes
>>   of unwanted pregnancy.

>How many scientific studies?  A majority?  A small minority?

Well, given that it is a quote from a prestigious journal like the JAMA, one
would easily conclude that it is the composite of *all* decent studies in
the area.  The translation of the quote for the scientifically challenged is:
Considering all properly-conducted studies into the question of "abortion
trauma syndrome" [or whatever you want to call it], there is a lesser
incidence of negative symptoms in women who had an abortion than in women
who gave birth under similar circumstances.  In other words, ATS (or PAS) is
a myth.

This does NOT mean that no negative effects occur in any women who have an
abortion.  It means that the incidence of negative symptoms is generally
less in women who chose an abortion than in women of similar state-of-mind
who chose to give birth.  Further details would have to come from individual
studies.


>>  There is no evidence of an abortion trauma
>>   syndrome.

>So was NancyJo Mann, founder of WEBA and living counterexample to the
>benighted statement made in JAMA.

In mathematics, an individual counterexample can disprove a "theorem".
In social sciences (and medicine), an individual "counterexample" is merely
part of the evidence.  Do try to remember what discipline is being disussed.

>Peter Nyikos

-Rob
Newsgroups: talk.abortion