AGI Report Misrepresents Science on Abortion and Women's Mental Health.(Alan Guttmacher Institute)(Editorial)

Editor's note. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), although a "special research affiliate" of Planned Parenthood, gets great, almost entirely uncritical press coverage. A study produced by AGI titled "Abortion in Women's Lives" naturally concluded that abortion is trouble-free for women. We asked experts to look at two specific areas in the report: abortion and its impact on women's mental health and abortion's link to an increased risk of breast cancer. This is the first of two stories. The other is on page 17.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) recently released a report concluding that "abortion does not pose a hazard to women's mental health." This completely off-base conclusion by a "special affiliate" of Planned Parenthood is only one of many erroneous conclusions.

AGI asserts, "Well-designed studies conducted since the American Psychological Association [APA] review in 1989 continue to find no causal relationship between abortion and mental heath problems." But just the opposite is true. These well-designed studies indicate that abortion poses serious and prolonged mental health risks to a significant percentage (at least 2030%) of women undergoing an abortion.

Indeed, the research evidence clearly shows that abortion substantially increases risk for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, substance use, and suicidal behavior.

How does the AGI go about disregarding all the evidence that abortion not only takes the lives of unborn children but is injurious to their mothers? AGI (1) ignores numerous studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, (2) offers ill-founded criticism of studies that AGI cannot ignore, (3) selectively reports findings, and (4) misrepresents studies in the medical and psychological literature that document how women can and do suffer after they abort.

AGI specially targets for special criticism many studies by Dr. David Reardon and Dr. Priscilla Coleman and their colleagues. The unwary reader would never know that, in fact, these studies are both methodologically sound and have been published in well-respected psychology and medical journals.

AGI asserts that these studies failed to include adequate "controls." AGI specifically notes, "None adequately control for factors that might explain both the unintended pregnancy and the mental health problems, such as socio-demographic characteristics, pre-existing mental or physical conditions, childhood exposure to physical or sexual abuse, and other risk-taking behaviors."