A new study has claimed that a majority of women who have had an abortion do not regret their decision to commit the act.
The study, which was published in the journal PLOS One last week, was conducted by investigators at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at University of California San Francisco's School of Medicine, together with the division of biostatistics from the university, and authorized by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH).
The new study, led by Corinne H. Rocca, is part of ANSIRH's "Turnaway Study" and serves as the first in the U.S. that followed women who got an abortion and those who were denied the procedure, as reported in Think Progress.
The study found that out of its study group, 95 percent of women did not regret their decision to have their abortion. The study states that it was conducted over a three-year period (2008-10) and involved almost 670 women from "various social backgrounds" who were questioned about their abortions.
The details of the study are sure to anger pro-life advocates, after it was found that 40 percent of the women in the study chose to abort their babies because of financial reasons; where as 36 percent said they felt they should abort their babies because it "wasn't the right time". Furthermore, 26 percent of those surveyed said that they found having an abortion was an easy decision for them; where as only 53 percent thought it was a somewhat difficult decision to make.
The study concluded that the majority of the participants thought that aborting was the right decision to make "both in the short-term and over three years."
Pro-abortion activists have said that the study's findings offered a statistical response to claims from pro-life campaigners that many women suffer emotional trauma following an abortion.
Pro-life supporters, who argue that the life of the unborn should also have rights, are sure to be angered by the results, especially the statistics that show so many women chose to abort for financial reasons or simply because the timing was not right for them. Also the number who found the decision to terminate their pregnancies easy is sure to spark further outrage among those fighting for the rights of the unborn.
Some pro-life advocates have already stepped up to highlight the problems with the study.
Calvin Freiburger of Live Action News insisted that the new study was flawed, and rebuked Think Progress' claims that there was "no scientific evidence" showing a link between mental health problems and abortion.
Freiburger refuted those claims by citing examples of various peer-reviewed studies that showed mental health problems can indeed result from abortion.
Among his citations include a study from Southern Medical Journal in 2002 showing that the risk of suicide was increased by 154 percent following an abortion; a study found in Medical Science Monitor in 2003 stated a 65 percent increase in "risk of long-term clinical depression;" and a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2003 showed that the chances of hospitalization for psychiatric disorders were doubled after an abortion. Various negative psychological effects of abortion were also highlighted in ClinicQuotes.com and include suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.
