From: Larry Margolis <margoli@watson.ibm.com>
Subject: Post-abortion trauma is bogus (was: Re: Abortion vs. Adoption)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:32:44 GMT
Reply-To: margoli@watson.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: The Village Waterbed

In  <17u0pqINNso9@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com>  regard@sdd.hp.com (Adrienne Regard) writes:
> In article <1992Aug31.165949.13667@menudo.uh.edu> HADCRJAM@admin.uh.edu (MILLER,
> >In <17tdcuINNnej@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com> regard@sdd.hp.com writes:
> >
> >> >In fact, all I'm saying is: abortion, for women who choose it,
> >> >is a Big Deal.  They will be affected by it for no little time.
> >>
> >> Upon what grounds do you make this claim?
> >> There have been studies performed on these issues, you know.  Do you know
> >> what the bulk of these studies have found?
>
> C Everett Koop, when asked by his president to come up with evidence that
> abortion is a bad thing, could not in conscience do so.  He reviewed the
> existing literature and decided one couldn't come to the conclusion that
> abortion was a bad thing.  He felt more studies needed to be done.
>
> Some were.  In one, (which I don't have the citations for at hand, unfortu-
> nately -- this is from memory) a sampling of inner-city girls were studies.
> Those who became pregnant and aborted ended up more successful on the various
> scales used in the study than those who either didn't get pregnant in the
> first place, and that those who did get pregnant and carried to term.  I don't
> recall the actual scales used -- as I say, this is from memory

See below.

> But, frankly, since I don't have the references for these studies at hand,
> I've just posted flame bait, and it's likely that will be exactly what we
> see.

I thought you were attempting to determine if the original poster (the
attribution has been lost) was ignorant on his own or was repeating
lies from some other source.

Larry Margolis, MARGOLI@YKTVMV (Bitnet), margoli@watson.IBM.com (Internet)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
>From: wreck@fmsrl7.srl.ford.com (R. Cage)
Subject: Post-abortion trauma is bogus; effects are POSITIVE.
Summary: Believe it
Keywords: "post-abortion" syndrome almost certainly due to other causes.
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1992 14:16:33 GMT

Taken w/o permission from the Ann Arbor News, 25 Jan 1990,
p. A-1, continued on A-9.  Comments in [brackets] are mine.
All errors theirs:

     "New study of inner city teens finds
     no evidence of emotional trauma"

By WILLIAM BOOTH
The Washington Post

Inner-city teenagers who have abortions do better in school,
are better off economically and are no more likely to have
emotional problems than similar teenagers who have children,
according to a study published Wednesday by researchers at
Johns Hopkins University.

The study of 360 black women in Baltimore indicates that two
years after their abortions, "the young women who had chosen
to terminate an unwanted pregnancy were doing as well (and
usually better than) those who had had a baby or who had not
been pregnant," according to Laurie Schwab Zabin, who did
the study with Marilyn Hirsh and Mark Emerson of the
Department of Population Dynamics at the Johns Hopkins School
of Hygiene and Public Health.

The investigators focused on blacks because they wanted the
young women in the study to be as similar as possible so
comparisons would be more valid.  All the women were 17 years
old or younger and from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The study is the latest contribution to the debate over
whether women who have abortions are emotionally harmed by
the experience.  Some researchers believe that women who
have abortions suffer severe, and often delayed, emotional
reactions.

Last January, then Surgeon General C. Everett Koop decided
that he could not issue a long-awaited report on the impact
of abortions because the available scientific evidence, about
psychological effects in particular, "simply cannot support
either the preconceived beliefs of those pro-life or those
pro-choice."  Koop called the studies "flawed methodologically."

[Notice that Koop called *all* the studies flawed.  If he was
 biased he would have found one side to be correct.  - RC]

The Johns Hopkins study attempted to find out if there were
any negative consequences associated with abortion.  The
researchers recruited young women when they came to one of
two clinics in Baltimore for pregnancy tests.  The women were
divided into groups that had an abortion, had a child or were
not pregnant.  All the women were followed for two years.

[Here's the meat of the study. - RC]

As measured by levels of stress, anxiety and feelings of self-
esteem, those in the abortion group were no different from
those in the child-bearing group.  The researchers found that
both the abortion group and child-bearing group were equally
likely to be pleased with their decisions a year later.

[Conclusion:  no emotional trauma from abortion. - RC]

The economic status of those who had abortions did not
deteriorate the way it did in the child-bearing group, according
to the study.  The researchers also found that more of the women
in the abortion group graduated from high school or advanced
their educations, compared with the young women who had children
or who tested negative for pregnancy.

[Note that bombshell:  those who aborted are more likely to
 continue their educations and support themselves in a socially
 responsible fashion than *both* other groups. - RC]

Another finding of the study was that the women who had
abortions were more likely to use birth control consistently
after their abortion and to avoid a subsequent pregnancy.

[Reactions of anti-abortion groups deleted]


And from the same paper, same page, same day:

     "Mental stresses following operation
     largely uncharted waters, group says."

By MICHELE LESLIE
Ann Arbor News Bureau

CLEVELAND - Counselors for Catholic Social Services are well aware
that the term "post-abortion syndrome" cannot be found in medical
reference books, that research regarding it is flawed, and that it
can be used as a political weapon.

[Remainder of article deleted.]
--
Russ Cage              wreck@fmsrl7.srl.ford.com  russ%rsi@sharkey.cc.umich.edu
  *  When Ford pays me for my opinions, THEN they can call them theirs. *

                           _Bad_ cop.  No donut.
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