It's probably true to say that there is no such thing as entirely objective, unloaded research on abortion. Each successive academic study (and there have been quite a few) about whether abortion carries risks to the women who have them is instantly seized on by people seeking to tighten the law or trying to liberalise it. Value-free abortion research may be a nice idea, but there's no such thing as value-free researchers, however good their methodology.
There are certainly no value-free interpreters of the research. We can probably take it as read, then, that the conclusions of the latest body to consider the effect of abortion on mental health, the American Psychological Association (APA), will be meat and drink to the pro-choice lobby here.
The APA examined research published over the past 17 years on possible links between the two and concluded that most abortions of unplanned pregnancies in the first three months do not cause psychiatric problems, although it has an open mind about the effect of multiple abortions.
So, come October - when Parliament debates a contentious amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would require women considering an abortion to undergo compulsory counselling about the possible psychiatric risks - the pro-choice lobby will make much of this bit of research. Before then, we can expect those pundits who like to brag about their abortion experiences in print - snuff journalism - to proclaim that their own abortions did their mental health nothing but good; far more good than giving birth would have done.
My chief objection to abortion isn't the damage that it might cause the woman concerned; I mind that it kills the foetus. But if we are to take seriously the question of whether abortion may have problematic consequences, then we have to acknowledge that most of the research on mental health has not been conclusive.
You can pick holes in almost all of the studies to date - for a good example of how this hole-picking is done, look at the report of the Commons Science and Technology Committee last year, which considered various research papers about the effect of abortion on mental health. Basically, there are so many variables in each case, so many practical difficulties about comparing like with like, so few studies that follow their subjects over years and decades that it's difficult to declare yep, this one has cracked it.
One often-quoted study from 2007, by a research group led by Dr M. Fergusson which suggested that people who had abortions have an increased risk of depression, suicide and substance abuse, was criticised inter alia, for not including enough about the background of the pregnancies in question.
The APA report has itself been criticised by pro-life academics for bias, for selective standards in evaluating different research findings, for ignoring studies that might point to a different conclusion, for basing much of its conclusions on one problematic study in 1995 (Gilchrist et al). One US researcher from the other side of the argument, Dr Priscilla K. Coleman, has declared that “there is consensus among most social and medical science scholars that a minimum of 10 to 30 per cent of women who abort suffer from serious negative psychological consequences”. If true, that sounds like quite a lot to me, although it still means that about eight or nine out of ten women who abort aren't affected too badly.
Nor should we forget how susceptible MPs are to authoritative-sounding research with issues such as abortion. Before the recent Commons vote on whether to restrict the time limit on abortion, research was published that suggested the life chances of premature babies had not increased beyond 24 weeks, despite medical advances. This was extensively quoted in favour of keeping the limit at 24 weeks, even though babies born prematurely self-evidently have problems, or their mothers do. The study had no bearing on ordinary, healthy foetuses, yet was used to see off the attempt to change the time limit on abortion.
As regards abortion and mental health, if we are to accept that - to put it conservatively - there that remains, notwithstanding this latest research, at least a risk that having an abortion may cause depression, isn't there a case for warning women of this? There's no saying that compulsory counselling, or indeed a cooling-off period before an abortion, will make women change their minds, but at least they should consider the possibilities. (Certainly they should be warned about the real, not illusory, association between abortion and premature delivery in subsequent pregnancies.)
And the one in ten women who undergoes a later abortion - after three months - should definitely be counselled about the potential effects on mental health. Come to think of it, has anyone done any research on the effects on men when their wife or girlfriend has an abortion?
Of course, there is nothing magic about counselling. It depends how it's done. The best and most brutal example of pre-abortion counselling that I can think of is in the film Alfie (the original version, with Michael Caine) when the unfortunate illegal abortionist rattles through all the downsides of the procedure before pocketing his £25, mentioning, if memory serves me correctly, “the injustice to the unborn child”.
I wonder how they'd put that now? They have compulsory counselling in Germany before abortion and women there still have them. Granted, you wouldn't want me doing it. I wouldn't be able to stop myself saying: “Don't you realise the foetus is human too?” And then I'd be sacked. But with all the caveats, at least informed counselling could allow women to consider the risks as well as the immediate gains of abortion. And where the potential cost is so great, that has to be worth doing.
I am PRO-CHOICE. I CHOOSE not to have sex because I know I am not ready to raise a child. Contraceptives? Like what Emma from UK earlier said, her "pill failed." Not an assurance. PREGNANCY is a consequence of a decision to have sex. What happened to responsibility in making choices? Think harder.
Trish, Sta. Rosa, PH
How sad and ironic it is to me to read “I am glad I had a choice, the choice to choose when I want to raise a child” that choice is always there when one is not ready acts responsible and doesn’t engage in risky behaviours and if they “have” a choice it is only because they were aloud to be born.
Rose Marie Loria, Toronto, Canada
To those who view the foetus as a human being whose rights have been taken away from them - the very fact that the law doesn't afford them rights to life, dignity, protection etc is because they aren't recognised as having that entitlement. Human rights are for humans, not foetuses under 24wks.
K, London,
I have recently had to go through the distress of having an abortion.A hard decision.My pill failed,still at university, a partner about to self fund a masters and living in a rented flat. Thank god I had a choice, the choice to choose when I want to raise a child to the very best of my ability.
Emma, Aberdeen, uk
Three simple words to avoid the evil act of abortion, NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING. Contraception leads to abortion. Isn't that plainly obvious!
Marie, Aberdeen, Scotland
All women are counselled before having an abortion. The question of when a fertilized egg becomes a human baby along its developmental path inside a woman's body is a philosophic and religious question. Leave a woman's body and beliefs, inside her skin, to her to control.
Sandra , Vancouver, Canada
Why so many? could it be youngsters (and others) using condoms who don't know the failure modes e.g. how many young men, if asked, say that if they put it on the wrong way round they will just turn it over - thus having a nice group of a few million sperm on the outside? Inadequate education.
Peter , Dundee, UK
One simple word, to avoid the nightmare of facing a possible decision of abortion. CONTRACEPTION.
Louise, Bristol,
my now, ex-wife and I would never have dreamt of having one of our children killed on the basis that he or she might be born with some so-called defect
peter c, devizes, wessex
Yawwwn! Surgeries of all kinds have consequences. The issue is:Compared to what? The putative concern for women might be believable if it focused on researching the best ways to support women who choose to end a pregnancy rather than looking for ways to institute an anti-choice world view.
Thomas R. Chibucos, Bowling Green, OH, USA
It's sad that so many of the posters here seem to take abortion so lightly. I think the true answer lies with not getting pregnant in the first place. Why are so many women having sex with men they don't want to have babies with or at a place in their lives when they don't want kids?
Amanda, Columbus, OH, USA
Abortion up to 24wks is wrong? The women who have abortions after 18wks do so (in 99%of cases) because of late detected birth defects, or rape victims who cannot face the truth that they are pregnant. Its about CHOICE. These decisions noone takes lightly and unbiased counselling can only help.
sophie, Basingstoke,
To be honest most of the woman have abortions without the knowledge of family and friends have kept the pregnancy secret anyways. In thes circumstances it is only the mother who is affected and noone else.
Saska, Liverpool, UK
If we are just talking about the mental health side of things, surely there is a bigger mental health risk in carry an unwanted pregnancy to full term than having an abortion, especially an early one.
Sally, Newcastle upon Tyne,
This advice pre op should also be compulsory for the putative father who will probably have had a big say in the decision to present for abortion.
kate, Falmouth, Cornwall
A lot has been said about the effect of abortion on the mother & sometimes we hear about the baby, but little is said about the father & almost nothing about the sibling survivors: "If I'd been conceived at the wrong time I might have been killed: what must I do to stay alive?"
HopeAliveUK.org
Wendy Watson, Bristol, England
Law guides people. ”Viability” = only that one person is dependent, not that they are to have complete power exercised over them.
Compassion for the mother - good. Let's have more (& for the new person too) & offer information and support.
+ We should be educated re: hidden pre-born-evidence
Michelle Rispin, London, UK
Unbelievably patronizing to suggest that a woman seeking an abortion has not thought hard about it. Many people having children clearly do not have the resources ,emotional or financial ,to parent but they do it anyway and the children ,society ,and the world suffers due to their selfishness.
Simon, Alton, UK
In this overpopulated world, every woman should desist from pregnancy for about 5 years. It is simple and safe. If you really insist that it is your right to have a child, then I would insist you pay all the costs of having it.
m wilson, bidache, france
Sex ,pregnancy ,and childbirth has always had risks for women.In a lot of places it is still the risk of death.What has gone is the usual risk for men of death in battle. Risk is normal and sadness after loss is normal. Overpopulation is unfortunately not normal and will kill us if we ignore it
June, Birmingham, UK
You need to ask two questions: firstly, do abortive women have a higher rate of mental health problems than non-abortive women, and secondly, is a link inherently plausible?
If you can answer yes to both then attempts to make the effect disappear by controls are likely to be sophistry.
Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK
While everyone is asserting human rights of fetuses do the implications bother anyone? Who celebrates conception rather than birth? Or have funerals for miscarriages? Do you protest forced abortions in China as genocide? If you care about human life look at Africa and stop exploiting the continent.
Dr. J. Gokhale, Bangalore, , India.
Melanie raises an often overlooked issue - men's health and abortion. Perhaps it's time for us in the UK to do what they are prepared to admit in the US on this issue? I recommend www.menandabortion.info
Edmund Adamus, London, England
Most science is interpretive n much of it is based on "faith" in current explanatory thinking.
So lets apply a little human, common sense.
Abortion is by its nature destructive; the ending of a life (to be).
So a little more help in dealing with / preventing this act can't hurt.
Nathan, Cambridge, UK
Kevin Williams you live in the most environmentally expensive country in the world.Your unborn" brothers and sisters" will kill us all. Abortion is one of the things we do unselfishly in the West. We must restrain population growth. Women who make the difficult decision need supporting afterwards
Gregory, Darlington, UK
Mind boggling to think that anyone is surprised if women are sad because of an ended pregnancy which nature does one quarter of the time anyway.Sadness is a normal response to loss however it occurs.Having unwanted infants or too many of them is irresponsible ,ending one brave.
Adrian, Dublin, UK
I know women who have had abortions.
I know women who have given birth.
Carrying, delivering and raising a child is the far more impactful.
No counselling suggested for the much more demanding and difficult option of giving your life to raising a child.
Patronising pro-life drivel.
Alison, London,
Nick Rotherham Social Services have file after file on children in terrible circumstances who have inadequate parents .There are 500,000 referrals a year but only 30,000 can be picked up. These are kids born to people with a sentimental view about kids but without the resources to actually parent
Mike, Burnley, UK
Abortion has risks...especially for the unborn child.
Peter Davies, Halifax, West Yorkshire
And the depression rate after naturally occuring miscarriage is? Miscarriage is 1 in 4 pregnancies and women are left to get on with it then.The "concern" from antis is entirely bogus.
Jean, Leeds, UK
Lets look at the delights of places that encourage unrestrained fertility. Afghanistan one of the highest birth rates in the world and a one in eight chance of dying of the pregnancy or the birth. There are one million more men than women because of the health consequences of treating women so & war
Elizabeth, Tring, UK
I had an abortion aged 15 as a result of a rape and have had to live with the fall out of both experiences. I still believe in the right of any woman to make the choice about abortion. In my experience it is not a decision taken or lived with easily.
Jane, Leicester, UK
I believe abortion should be legal, but it should be 'informed choice'. That means knowing both sides of the coin. If women who miscarry a wanted preganancy are encouraged to mourn the dead 'baby', why not those who abort? In Japan, women who abort commemorate the dead in cemetaries.
Bob Samms, Warwick, UK
No one can be forced into counselling, it's success is dependent on the fact someone sees a need and engages in the process. To tell a pregnant woman she HAS to see a counsellor tells that woman the medical profession thinks she has "issues", options counselling should be at point of referral.
Rich, London,
It is clear from reading the varied responses to this article that the debate on abortion is very much alive. Women making such a decision are usually accutely aware of this. The best option is therefore to provide sensitive education to young men and women, and optional counselling before and after
AC, London,
I am disgusted by KRs comment from Stockport that 'abortion of unplanned pregnancies tend to be by people who don't care about the consequences anyway.' Many have thought long and hard about the decision, before going ahead with something that will haunt them for the rest of their life.
RH, Glasgow, Scotland
Some women really do not need counselling and have absolutely no problems expelling an unwanted foetus from their bodies. Call it snuff journalism if you wish but to think otherwise is patronising in the extreme.
IE - There is nothing wrong with abortion so no counselling is necessary.
Jason Mead, Bristol, England
Counseling in this context appears to be the opportunity for some stranger with an agenda to attempt to dissuade the woman from her chosen course. Perhaps all pregnant women should be "counseled" by the Malthus Society and urged to terminate for environmental reasons.
Just joking - or am I?
Charles, Charlottesville,
To say you mind about the foetus and not the woman misses the point. In addition to psychiatric risks, there are physical health risks involved. Unwanted pregnancy is often the result of unwanted, certainly unprotected sex and in a civilised society, no woman should find herself in that position.
I Whittaker, London,
If there was nothing wrong with abortion there would be no need for counselling.
i.e., Norwich, England
Abortion of unplanned pregnancies tend to be by people who don't care about consequence anyway, so lack of prevalent after-effect ins't surprising. Termination on medical grounds certainly affected my wife and I. So I agree, a study is too often used to justify attitude rather than examine reality.
KR, Stockport,
My cervical cancer was discovered when I was pregnant, so I had to have a termination at 11 weeks, but only if I had 6 months of counselling afterwards a month after the termination. Since the counselling I have been on antidepressants and would rather my cancer kill me now than in a few weeks.
Anne, Nottingham,
Abortion may have risks but it seems that giving birth in the UK has even greater risks. Reading today's Alpha Mommy blog, I was appalled to read of the traumatic and terrifying experiences women in the UK have undergone giving birth in the NHS.
shaun richards, london, uk
Many women have abortions because they don't feel that they could be good enough mothers. In some ways, it is an issue of having lower self-esteem than some of those less-worried women who go on with their pregnancies. Just giving up your child for adoption is not something that is easy to do.
Finn Welsh, Windsor, Canada
Whatever the effects on the woman, the effects on the human inside her are as grave as possible: death! And if anyone disputes that it is not human, show me a living person who did not at some stage spend time as a foetus? Killing has many consequences, least of which is mental trauma.
A.N, London, UK
"It is unlikely she has taken the decision to have an abortion lightly" - with 198,000 abortions per year in the UK, it seems likely that a considerable number are done lightly.... with all the people around desperate to have a baby, no child is 'unwanted'.
cheaton, Croydon, UK
If a woman chooses councelling then it is available. However, if she chooses not to be lectured by someone asking her 'are you sure?' then that should be her choice.
Abortion is traumatic enough without having to justify your choices to some total stranger.
N, London,
Abortion is an expedient answer to many difficult questions like: can I afford a family now?, do I want to be with this man forever?, do I want to compromise my career? etc. It is a natural progression for our individualistic society that we should choose to end life because it causes us suffering.
Ross, Birmingham, UK
The Counsellers are the ones who need counselling. We don't need this feeble-minded culture of counselling.
ian cheese, london, uk
Each November the whole country commemorates all the lives lost in battle.
Since the 1967 abortion act, more human lives have been ended through abortion, than in World Wars I and II combined and yet the silence is deafening.
6 million lives didn't have a choice. Where is our humanity?
eileen wojciechowska, Oxfordshire, England
Thank you Melanie. Abortion is about the human rights of a weak and vulnerable person, the unborn child. They have no rights and no vote; we need to speak for them. Our society will be judged by the 600 legal murders every day. I am glad men finally get a mention.
Sue Eaton, London, UK
There is "Counselling" and there is "Hectoring"
Please do not treat women as some sort of inaminate object on which your superiour knowledge and "innner wisdom" may prove to be their start of a "new and more enlightened life"
In case you wonder at my name : yes I am a man.
Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK
Nature ends one in four pregnancies. All ended pregancies will result in hormonal changes and all are an occasion for sadness which is not mental illness. Do we counsel all those women who lose a wanted pregnancy? No we don't. The antis want to torture women more so they themselves can feel moral
Hattie, Manchester, UK
We need less compulsion rather than more in this country - offer it, by all means. Don't force women to undergo more stress at a difficult time.
Giles Falocner, Sleaford, UK
Of course abortion makes women sad as does the ending by nature of 25% of pregnancies many much wanted. Warning women is not the same as being there when it matters. That it is warning shows that this is just about putting women off.
Sorrow is appropriate at a loss however the loss occcurs.
Lisa, Sutton, UK
Ironic, no? One has to wonder how much importance Ms McDonagh would have afforded this study had it concluded that having an abortion *did* seriously effect mental health. No doubt we would have been subjected to a moralising piece wondering how on earth we ever doubted it.
Carl, Aylesbury, UK
Postpartum depression is talked about a lot these days, but I've never heard any suggestion of compulsory counselling for pregnant women about this possible risk to their mental health. It's paternalistic to assume women who consider abortion don't think about it deeply without a counsellor's help.
KB, Cairo,
Anti-abortionists should combat the necessity for abortions by making sure that every girl knows how to obtain and use contraception and every boy knows his duty of care and his personal responsibility for the consequences of his own actions. Until then abortion remains the lesser of the many evils.
Ross, Bristol,
Ironically, feminists don't even care about women. Strange but evidently very true in more ways than one.
Simon, York, England
It's a scary, chilling feeling to acknowledge that my fellow already-born human beings can be so cavalier, so indifferent as it relates to the rights of our as yet unborn brothers and sisters. It reminds me of Brave New World--the conditioning is so effective. Have a heart! Protect them.
Kevin Williams, San Clemente, CA, USA
You would expect a woman seeking an abortion to be under emotional stress and already has many hurdles to jump. It is unlikely that she has taken the steps to seek abortion lightly and EXTRA pre-abortion counselling just adds to the stress.
Offer extra counselling after yes, before no.
P Barrett, Valletta, Malta
I'm sure everybody writing here is entirely sincere in their opinions. But there are no councillors without an opinion of their own, and therefore compulsory counselling = indoctrination, whichever side is doing it.
The government has no business providing anybody with a captive audience.
Rosemary , Germany,
This is the FIRST time I have read ANYONE taking the father of an aborted foetus into consideration. Thank you Ms McDonagh. A close friend of mine watched on in distress as his girlfriend unilaterally decided to dispose of their future child.It was a harrowing experience and wrecked the relationship
Anthony, Fuenterrabía, Spain
@Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley. So, considering babies can be successfully delivered way before 9 months, do you really think it's just about the woman's decision? Who knows, perhaps you'd be in favour of culling unpleasant teenagers, or perhaps two year olds when they aren't what the woman "wants."
Drew, Los Angeles, USA
Most, if not all, pregnant women are very well aware the foetus is human, Melanie. At least 18 years of very dependant humanity - that's why they should of course have the opportunity to discuss all the options with an impartial person, to make the decision that is right for them, not any one else.
Lynda, Sheffield,
For those of you who compared the risks of naturally giving birth to a child and killing a child within a woman - give me a break.
Counselling and education should absolutely be compulsory - the more people know about this barbaric procedure, the better.
Fliss Edzerza, PG, Canada
You have to have counselling before almost anything in medicine: Getting the pill, having your broken leg operated on, or having an epidural to give birth.
Failure to do so is a breach of the law requiring "informed consent". Without the "counselling" of being told the risks, it's illegal.
John, Townsville, Australia
Surely let's support counseling all pregnant women about the dangers of post-natal depression and other mental health effects of actually having the baby -- as well as the financial effects. Tell both sides of the story without slanting them.
Tina Rhea, Greenbelt Maryland, US
Abortion has its risks, so does crossing the road. If you read Genesis, you will be able to see how god ordered Abraham to circumcise himself with a sharp stone. Now that is risky.
m wilson, bidache, france
Counselling may be very helpful when offered unconditionally. But "compulsory counselling" seems too strong an emphasis, is unnecessary and may be inappropriate.
A womans right to choose what happens to her pregnancy is her own private,dignified,confidential business-right up to the time of labour.
Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley, Bacup, UK
Of course no one with half a brain would object to counselling being offered.
The issue arises where it is made mandatory and results in "counselling" a.k.a. 'interrogation' which will do more harm that good!
Kate, Sydney, Australia
The "pro-choice" stance will come to look as old-fashioned as the idea the state had no right to intervene where a man was beating his wife. The fact is that an abortion affects the mother and the child. Women should not be allowed to simply kill their children with impunity.
Nick, Rotherham, UK
Anti-choice people note that abortion carries risks to women who have them. Hence the must be forced into counseling. But carrying a pregnancy, especially if unwanted, to term also carries risks. Should they be counseled about these dangers?
Let women who are pregnant make their own decisions.
John S. Dearing, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
The researchers may disaree about the measurable effects on the mother, but one fact is indisputable: abortion ends a life.
Michael D. Ciletti, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA