Family Life International NZ Press Release:
Monday 01.12.08
New University of Otago research shows that abortion is not the answer to crisis-pregnancy
Today’s news about new research from the University of Otago which shows that abortion increases a woman’s risk of developing anxiety and depression by 30% clearly highlights that abortion is not the answer to crisis-pregnancy, and that it causes more harm than good in the lives of women who experience it.
“This study is part of a growing body of research which challenges the current popular misconception that abortion carries no risks to the health and wellbeing of women” says Brendan Malone, media spokesperson for Family Life International NZ.
“What makes this study important is the fact that it has been subject to some very important and rigorous research controls which show that abortion is the root cause of the mental health problems in the lives of the women studied, and not other factors, such as socio-economic situations, education, childhood experiences, etc.”
This is important, says Brendan Malone, because pro-abortion advocates have tried to dismiss previous studies which show similar results by challenging the lack of control factors utilised in those previous papers.
“While the research showed that exposure to abortion currently only accounts for between 1.5% and 5.5% of the overall rate of mental disorders in the general population, one has to ask how long before this problem becomes far worse in the general population when we have approximately 18,000 women being exposed to the risk factors associated with abortion every year?”
Brendan Malone says that this research once again shows the urgent need for a law change in New Zealand which would require all women seeking abortions to be fully informed of all the serious health risks that they would be exposed to through abortion, as well as enacting serious penalties for institutions and individuals within the healthcare sector who failed to provide women with full, frank and factually correct information about the harms caused by abortion.
ENDS
