Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 6, 1990 TAG: 9004060040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Though some women may feel regret, sadness or guilt, "the weight of the evidence from scientific studies indicates that legal abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in the first trimester does not pose a psychological hazard for most women," said the study, to be published Friday in the journal Science.
Olivia Gans, director of American Victims of Abortion, called the study "a manipulation" of data from earlier studies.
"When you look at these studies, you can twist them any way you need to to get whatever conclusion you want," she said.
The new study was commissioned by the American Psychological Association, which asked six experts to examine all current research and determine if a valid conclusion could be drawn about post-abortion psychological effects.
Nancy E. Adler, a Unversity of California-San Francisco professor of psychiatry and lead author of the report, said the panel surveyed more than 200 studies and found only "about 19 or 20" that met solid scientific standards.
Once those studies were examined, she said, the conclusion "was really quite clear."
The APA convened the panel in 1988 after then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reported that studies were inadequate to draw final conclusions about the effects of abortion on women's mental health.
For the vast majority of women who have voluntary abortions, "severe negative reactions are infrequent in the immediate and short-term aftermath," the study said.
The greatest distress, the study found, "is likely to be before the abortion."
"Severe negative reactions after abortions are rare and can best be understood in the framework of coping with a normal life stress," the study said.
Adler said studies of the psychological effects of a death have shown that if there is no negative mental health response within a few months, there is little likelihood that one will develop later.
As a result, she said, "there is reason to believe that there will be very little long term effect" from abortion.
"As a scientist, I really can't say anything beyond two years," she said.
"Two years is not enough," said Gans, who said she had an abortion in 1981. "I know many years later you still have to deal with emotional debris of that experience."
Gans' organization, American Victims of Abortion, is associated with the National Right to Life Committee.
Other findings of the Science report include:
Most women report feelings of relief and happiness after a first trimester abortion. One study showed that 76 percent of women reported feeling relief two weeks after an abortion and only 17 percent reported guilt.
A study of 360 adolescents seeking pregnancy tests compared those who were not pregnant, those who were pregnant and sought abortion and those who carried their babies to term. After two years, the study said, "the abortion group showed, if anything, a more positive psychological profile than either of the other two groups."
by CNB