Professor David Fergusson found a link between depression and prior abortion(s). According to Prof Fergusson:
“’I’m pro-choice but I’ve produced results which, if anything, favour a pro-life viewpoint.’”
“’It’s obvious I’m not acting out of any agenda except to do reasonable science about a difficult problem.’”
….
“The researchers expected to find no evidence of harmful effects of abortion. But they found the opposite.”
The results of the study were:
“Researchers found that at age 25, 42 per cent of women in the study group who had had an abortion also experienced major depression at some stage during the past 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.”
Fergusson said that some medical journals refused to publish his findings:
“Professor Fergusson, who leads the project, said the paper was declined by a number of journals, he suspects because of the ‘controversial’ nature of the topic.”
“’We went to four journals, which is very unusual for us – we normally get accepted the first time.’”
He also said:
“’It verges on scandalous that a surgical procedure that is performed on over one in 10 women has been so poorly researched and evaluated, given the debates about the psychological consequences of abortion.’”
The study was published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.
Ruth Hill, “Abortion Researcher Confounded by Study,” The New Zealand Herald, January 05, 2006
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