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TechnoratiThe Supreme Court’s recent decision banning partial-birth abortion renewed public interest in abortion politics and policy. Despite the infrequency of late-term abortions, the ban is significant because it strikes at one rationale for the general availability of abortion – potential negative mental health consequences for women of carrying a child to term. Many late-terms abortions are performed for such reasons. For instance, in 1999, mental health concerns were cited by the abortion provider in all 182 partial-birth procedures in Kansas.
Thus, both pro-choice and pro-life camps are gearing up for more debate over the mental health consequences of abortion. In a fight, political or otherwise, it is good to have influential allies. In the abortion debate, pro-choice advocates historically have counted on the support of the powerful American Psychological Association.
Abortion and the APA have a relationship that predates Roe vs. Wade. Rewinding to 1969, the APA became an early player in the public debate with the following resolution:
…WHEREAS, termination of unwanted pregnancies is clearly a mental health and child welfare issue, and a legitimate concern of APA; be it resolved, that termination of pregnancy be considered a civil right of the pregnant woman, to be handled as other medical and surgical procedures in consultation with her physician...
Fast forward to 2007; the APA recently convened a task force called the Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. According to APA spokesperson, Rhea Farberman, the committee will conduct an updated review of the published scientific literature on the potential impact of abortion on women’s mental health. The committee has met once and is slated to report its findings in 2008.
Does the appointment of this committee signal a possible change in APA policy toward abortion? Very likely, the answer is no.
Periodically, pro-life psychologists have urged the APA to examine claims abortion may lead to negative mental health consequences for some women. In 1989, the APA convened a task force to review research on the topic and found little risk of psychological harm. However, just over a year ago, a pro-choice researcher, David Fergusson, of New Zealand released a study that re-ignited the debate over the mental health effects of abortion.
In a well-designed longitudinal study, Dr. Fergusson found abortion was associated with depression, and other negative mental health outcomes. Dr. Fergusson’s team criticized the APA’s position statement on abortion consequences which read in part,
Well-designed studies of psychological responses following abortion have consistently shown that risk of psychological harm is low. Some women experience psychological dysfunction following abortion, but post-abortion rates of distress and dysfunction are lower than pre-abortion rates.
Professor Fergusson believed the APA position ignored results of studies such as his which found contradictory results.
For a 2006 article, I interviewed Dr. Nancy Russo, long time APA luminary and defender of abortion rights, about Dr. Fergusson’s criticism of the APA position, she first asserted that the evidence about mental health outcomes was of clinical interest but had no bearing on abortion as a civil right. In other words, no matter what the consequences, abortion should be legal. Continue »
