News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
As the abortion wars heat up once again, there's a new study out that's sure to add fuel to the fire. A leading medical journal reports that having an abortion may be less damaging to a woman's mental health than having a baby.
The study -- which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week -- tracked 365,550 girls and women in Denmark who had a first-trimester abortion or first-time delivery between 1995 and 2007. Researchers selected females with no history of mental health problems prior to getting pregnant. They then compared the rate of mental health treatment (as measured by an inpatient admission or outpatient visit) within the 12 months after the abortion or childbirth as compared with the 9-month period preceding it.
The study found that women who had an abortion sought psychiatric treatment at roughly the same rate before and after that event, while the incidence with which women who gave birth sought counseling increased dramatically after having a baby.
Specifically, one percent of women sought help for possible mental disorders in the nine months before the abortion, while 1.5 percent did so in the 12 months that followed. On the other hand, 0.3 percent of women who gave live birth visited a psychiatrist for the first time in the nine months before birth compared to an average of 0.7 percent in the year that followed. So even though women seeking abortions are statistically more likely to have emotional problems to begin with, the study concludes they actually "suffer" less after the abortion than their counterparts who have children.
The scholars' conclusion? Contrary to popular belief (and heretofore received scientific wisdom), women's mental health is not seriously compromised by having an (early) abortion.
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May '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Talk about missing the point. Of course new mothers seek mental health assistance. Ever hear of post-partum depression, or the issues caused by massive sleep deprivation?
That women who have had abortions experience emotional/mental issues anywhere approaching that of new moms is the news here.
Next, we're going to hear how psychiatrists report "almost no instances of aborted fetuses seeking medical assistance of any kind. This compares with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, and even criminal issues reported with non-aborted fetuses. The study, which compared the two groups for 18 years after conception concludes that 'aborted fetuses clearly enjoy fewer problems than their non-aborted cohorts.'"
Bah.
Edited on Feb 2, 2011 at 10:32amAug '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Self-selection bias. New mothers are encouraged to seek mental health assistance because the risks of post-partum depression are widely understood and there is far less stigma attached to it than in the past. On the other side, abortion is treated like a "routine medical procedure", less important than having one's tonsils removed.
Dec '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
It's not fuel for the fire. It's pseudo-scientific cover for an industry.
May '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Misthiocracy expressed my thoughts exactly. Why anyone would think the mere fact of seeking treatment is evidence of the relative seriousness of mental health problems for people in different situations is beyond me.
Oct '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Oh! I understand now. We can murder our children, but if we feel OK afterward, then no harm done. Unless, of course, you're the kid. Since, as a culture we no longer give a damn about our kids if they survive our pre-natal attacks, why should we care if they don't. It's all about me, me, me.
God help us. Does this country any longer deserve another chance. Of course I know that this is all BS, but nevertheless, even presenting it without embarrassment indicates that we no longer are worthy of our heritage.
Oct '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
From what well did this spring ?
A sterile clinical study simply proves and excludes the researchers left out something abundtly elemental.
They know nothing about women, Sorry about that...
Oct '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
I have a more statistics based question. As noted above:
Abortion goes from 1% to 1.5% whereas pregnancy goes from 0.3 to 0.7%. Why is a 0.4% increase significant but a 0.5% increase non-significant?
I went to the study and it seemed they have determined significance (p values) by "incidence rate per 1000 person-years." What does that mean?
Another point, all of these women had no prior mental health issues before decision. Why is the headline not "Abortion Consideration Increases Mental Health Contact in Healthy Women by 300%"?
Edited on Feb 2, 2011 at 5:21pmJul '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
The numbers cited by Politics Daily above are disingenuous. The NEJoM gives 3.9/1000 mothers seeking psychiatric contact before, not the 0.3% (truncated downward to make a case), and 6.7/1000 seeking afterwards, not the 0.7% cited. The difference being 2.8/1000, not the 4/1000 PD would suggest. For abortion, the numbers are 14.6/1000 before and 15.2/1000 after, a piddling 0.6/1000 upswing.
Implicit assumptions include:
Unstated conclusion:
As a husband and a father, any observation I might make would be purely anecdotal and therefore irrelevant.
Edited on Feb 2, 2011 at 5:02pmSep '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Less traumatic for whom?
I mean from the child's point of view, "Hey, there's a guy trying to rip your legs and arms off" is probably more traumatic than "Hey, there's a lady trying to stick her breast in your mouth."
Jun '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
This is from the top medical journal in the U.S......
That's pretty sad.
Casey, I have the answer to your question. When sample sizes become big enough, everything is significant when using p values. That's the problem when doing null hypothesis testing. A p value is the probability of finding the results you did, or more extreme results, if the null hypothesis is true (if there really is no relationship). Thus, if you can get a p value below .05 (which is the standard for most significance testing) you can say, the probability of finding our results if the null hypothesis is true is 5/100. Then you can publish. For various statistical reasons regarding the calculation of p values, increased sample sizes increases the chances of finding "significant" results (p<.05).
This study is total garbage.
Nov '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Whether it's more or less traumatic for the mother is not the point, and we shouldn't engage the enemy there. "Is a fetus a life, if not, when does it become a life and how is the decision made?" No one seems to be able to answer that question in a way that ends in support for abortion rights.
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Any woman who would elect to hire a doctor to kill her child is already in dire need of mental health treatment. 100% of the women who even considered abortion needed mental health treatment. The study's conclusions aren't the problem. Its premises are.
The saddest part of this is that when these tortured souls inquired about abortion services, no one offered them the mental help they so badly needed, because in America today, murdering your child is legal, typical, and acceptable.
Oct '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Thanks, although I was wondering more about how the incidence rates were calculated because that is where the percentages become values divergent and yield the statistically significant numbers that "justify" the headlines. The sample size for births I believe was about three times as large as the abortion sample size. I assume "per 1000 person-years" would standardize but if sample size does play a role what would that mean for significance (study has p<.001)?
Sep '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Without commenting on the p-scores.
It sounds like thsi study is being spun to conclude (at least on a relatively small timescale) that abortion is better for the mother than having the child.
That is pretty scary reasoning.
Jun '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Casey Way
Thanks, although I was wondering more about how the incidence rates were calculated because that is where the percentages become values divergent and yield the statistically significant numbers that "justify" the headlines.
I think they just did the per thousand calculation to make the numbers more understandable, which is strange.
p<.001 is pretty much the "best" significance you can get - there is a .1/100 probability of finding the results you did (the difference in the relationship between groups) if the null hypothesis were true.
Unfortunately, the use of p values here is misleading because the sample size, some 365,000 is so inflated that any relationship you look at is likely to be "significant" You probably could've looked at how much TV both groups watched, compared, and found a difference at a significant p value with that sample size.
In short, this study doesn't mean too much, and I'm really surprised it made it into the NEJM... kind of pathetic really.
May '10
Re: News Item: Study: Abortion Less Traumatic Than Childbirth
Ross Conatser: Without commenting on the p-scores.
It sounds like thsi study is being spun to conclude (at least on a relatively small timescale) that abortion is better for the mother than having the child.
That is pretty scary reasoning. · Feb 3 at 6:28am
One thing is for sure: Abortion is better for our Mother, the Earth, because as we all know, babies are nothing more than carbon footprints.