This may be a bit of a rant...

[stellar_muddle]

"Abortion raises depression risk, say NZ researchers"
(NZ Herald, 4 Jan 2006)

Well, no, actually they didn't say that, if you look a little more closely at the text... hmph...
Edit: based on the quotes in the article. Journal article does say that...

Abortion raises depression risk, say NZ researchers

04.01.06
By Greg Tourelle

Young women who have had an abortion may be at increased risk of developing mental health problems, a Christchurch study suggests.

The study, the largest of its type internationally, poses challenges to the grounds on which abortions are granted in New Zealand and some other countries.

The leader of the Canterbury Health and Development study, David Fergusson, said his researchers had followed the progress of 1265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977 from infancy to adulthood.

Its latest research found 41 per cent of the women studied had become pregnant by age 25, and 14.6 per cent of the women studied had had an abortion.

By the age of 25, the study found, 42 per cent of those who had had an abortion had also experienced major depression during the previous four years.

This was nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had chosen to continue a pregnancy.

"Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders," said the researchers, whose study has been published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.

Under the 1977 Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, abortion is an offence under the Crimes Act unless two "certifying consultants" approve it on certain grounds, usually that a woman's mental health would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy.

The Abortion Supervisory Committee last year repeated its call for a tightening of the law governing abortion saying that the wording of the law had come to have a "de facto liberal interpretation."

In 2004, 18,211 abortions were performed in New Zealand.

Professor Fergusson said there was little evidence to suggest abortion improved mental health.

"This study suggests possibly the opposite," he said yesterday.

"Certainly I think the pro-life groups will be beginning to argue that the evidence is against the basis of the legislation. That would be one possible implication."

"I appreciate there are people with strong ethical viewpoints about abortion and they have every entitlement to them but the extent to which they have a right to impose those views on others is where I depart and that is the foundation of my pro-choice position."

While the results of the study were only suggestive, it should lead to larger studies on such an important issue, he said.

"Abortion is by far the most common medical surgical procedure that young women receive.

"In our cohort one out of seven had had an abortion by the age of 25.

"If we were talking about an antibiotic or an asthma risk, and someone reported adverse reactions, people would be advocating further research to evaluate risk," Professor Fergusson said.

"I can see no good reason why the same rules don't apply to abortion."

- NZPA

This study is based on data released from the Christchurch Health and Developement Survey that I am one of the participants in, so I am in the interesting position of knowing what sort of questions they were asking in getting the data and a bit of an idea of the scale of data set used.



Ranting/discussion bit, which may be added to through the day since I am supposed to be doing some work.

When 1st saw these results mentioned on TV (SBS news?), was a bit suspicious of the results, until I found out which study it was based on: they do have the data to separate out depression/problems pre abortion and post abortion due to the timeline of the study (to within a couple of years). The article stated that of those who had had an abortion, 41% had also experianced major depression in the previous 4 years. The article doesn't establish if there is a pre and post abortion difference within the couple years or whether those who end up in the position of needing an abortion were more likely to have the mental health problems in the first place and hence be more likely to resort to more extreme contraceptive methods.

Insert rant here about how the media portrays things vs the actual results obtained, with respect to the above paragraph.

Does ignore the point that there is no point comparing directly those who got pregant and followed it through vs those who got pregnant and stopped it, because the former data set includes a lot of people who wanted to get in that state in the first place. Need to compare depression/problem rates in those who didn't intend to in the first place and then sort into those who continued and those who didn't. Not certain if they asked questions about that - not being pregnant or having been pregnant, may have skipped a section in the interviews. Doesn't look like it based on the phrasing in the newspaper article, but that may be different in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology article.

Fundimentally, it is unsuprising that having an abortion is a traumatic experiance. Frankly it would be disturbing if there weren't any sort of flow on effects what so ever. HOWEVER, this is not grounds to ban/restrict access. It means you need to be more careful in follow up and put in place better support mechanisms. It means that people should get to make fully informed decisions without pressuring from either pro-life or "anti-life". It means that women shouldn't be harrassed/condemned/discriminated against for making their decision, whatever their choice.*

Messy subject, that really isn't black and white.

NB Unfortunately the Survey website doesn't have the publication or links to the published Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology article with the results - want more detail.

* Yes, you may note a pro-choice bias on my behalf. Not necessarily a pro-abortion under any circumstances bias, but a definite right to make the choice yourself bias. Deal with it.


Nice that the Health and Developement Study have the funding for the 30 year old follow up interviews. Will be interesting to see what this adds to the discussion and whether they can start getting generational trends.


Edit: the abstract for the Journal article

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Volume 47 Page 16 - January 2006
doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01538.x
Volume 47 Issue 1

Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health
David M. Fergusson1, L. John Horwood1, and Elizabeth M. Ridder1

Background: The extent to which abortion has harmful consequences for mental health remains controversial. We aimed to examine the linkages between having an abortion and mental health outcomes over the interval from age 15–25 years.

Methods: Data were gathered as part of the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 25-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of New Zealand children. Information was obtained on: a) the history of pregnancy/abortion for female participants over the interval from 15–25 years; b) measures of DSM-IV mental disorders and suicidal behaviour over the intervals 15–18, 18–21 and 21–25 years; and c) childhood, family and related confounding factors.

Results: Forty-one percent of women had become pregnant on at least one occasion prior to age 25, with 14.6% having an abortion. Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders. This association persisted after adjustment for confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that abortion in young women may be associated with increased risks of mental health problems.

I also have the PDF article now (yay to Uni affiliation and subscriptions). There may be more comments later.

Comments

[theuns.livejournal.com]

Under the 1977 Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, abortion is an offence under the Crimes Act unless two "certifying consultants" approve it on certain grounds, usually that a woman's mental health would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy.

Right. So, in order to legally have an abortion, you have to demonstrate a mental health problem.

Subsequently, the survey shows a higher percentage of those who have had abortions had mental health problems.

So is it just me, or do we have a bit of confusion on causality here?

[stellar-muddle.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, yes, just a bit.
I suspect it is the media getting things a little muddled as the abstract is a little more explicit (see above edit in text as soon as I get the chance).

[stellar-muddle.livejournal.com]

Though it is a little more complicated than that in that you have to demonstate/certify that continuing the pregnancy will worsen/cause any mental health problems...