Elliot Institue Answers Flawed Study

The Elliot Institute answers Times article on the denial of women regretting abortion. 

  Flawed Study Claiming Women Don't Regret Abortions Doesn't Settle Debate
 
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"This Study Should End The Debate About Whether Women Regret
Having Abortions," reads the headline from ThinkProgress. The
study, published in the journal PLoS One, claims that 95 percent
of women having abortions do not have regrets afterward.

From the study:

"Women experienced decreasing emotional intensity over time,
and the overwhelming majority of women felt that termination was
the right decision for them over three years. Emotional support
may be beneficial for women having abortions who report intended
pregnancies or difficulty deciding."

Far from settling the debate, however, the study has a number of 
flaws that belie the conclusions drawn by the authors. Among the
flaws:

1) This study's findings and conclusions are overreaching due
to self-selection and high drop out rates. To quote from the
study: "Overall, 37.5 percent of eligible women consented to
participate, and 85 percent of those completed baseline
interviews (n = 956). Among the Near-Limit and First-Trimester
Abortion groups, 92 percent completed six-month interviews, and
69 percent were retained at three years; 93 percent completed at
least one follow-up interview." This means 62.5 percent of women
refused to participate in the study.

2) With 62.5 percent of eligible women refusing to participate in 
the study, it is improper for the authors to suggest that their 
findings reflect the general experiences of most women. There are 
numerous risk factors which have been identified as predicting 
which women will have the most severe  post-abortion reactions 
(http://bit.ly/1I3H3mY). One of these risk factors, for example,
is ambivalence about having an abortion or carrying to term.
Another is the expectation that one will have more negative
feelings about the abortion. In a similar post-abortion interview
study by Soderberg, the author reported that in interviews with
those declining to participate "the reason for non-participation
seemed to be a sense of guilt and remorse that they did not wish
to discuss. An answer often given was: 'Do do not want to talk
about it. I just want to forget.'" (http://bit.ly/1MaU0xW)

3) It is very likely that the self-selected 37.5 percent of
women agreeing to participate were more highly confident of their
decision to abort prior to their abortions and anticipated fewer
negative outcomes. This concern about selection bias is
highlighted by the study's own finding that "women feeling more
relief and happiness at baseline were less likely to be lost [to
follow-up]." Clearly, due to the large numbers of women choosing
not to be questioned about their experience, and the large drop
out rate of those who did agree, this sample is not
representative of the national population of women having
abortions.

4) Despite the initial selection bias, 15 percent of those
agreeing to be interviewed subsequently opted out of the baseline
interview and another 31 percent opted out within the three year
followup period. This indicates that even among women who
expected little or no negative reactions, the stress of
participating in follow up interviews lead to a change of mind.
The authors also make much of the claim that 93 percent of the
participants "completed at least one follow up interview" which
the media outlets incorrectly reported as meaning, "Only 7
percent of the participants dropped out of the study during
follow-up." (http://bit.ly/1CEytL7)
    
5) The bias of the research team is made clear in press
releases (http://bit.ly/1K86aqX) and an infographic 
(http://bit.ly/1gCtBMH) purporting to summarize the study. In
these "summaries" the research group conceals the details
regarding the high non-participation rate and boldly claims "95
percent of women who had abortions felt it was the right
decision, both immediately and over 3 years" -- omitting the fact
that 62.5 percent refused to answer the question at the time of
their abortion and of those interviewed at the time 31 percent
were out of the study by the third year. Notably, the problem of
high non-participation and drop out rates is not mentioned in the
abstract, press release, or other summarizing materials published
by the authors. To the contrary, they consistently imply that
their results apply to the entire population of women having
abortions.

Notably, the claim of declining regret and declining negative
reactions is at odds with Brenda Major's (http://bit.ly/1MaUwfB) 
two year longitudinal study, which also had high drop out rates, 
that found that there was a trend of decline in relief and increase 
in negative emotions over the two year period among those who did 
not drop out of her study. (See Major B, et al. Psychological 
responses of women after first-trimester abortion. Archives of 
General Psychiatry. 2000: 57(8), 777-84.)

Another oddity, the authors report that in the final group 
analyzed, average age 25, 62 percent were raising children. This
would appear to be a very high rate that is not typical of
national averages for women seeking abortion. Also, the sample
included 413 women who had an abortion near the end of the second
trimester compared to only 254 women having an abortion in the
first trimester.

Additionally, the authors do not report on any assessment of
whether women experiencing negative emotions sought any
post-abortion psychological or spiritual counseling. In other
words, it is unclear if the women reporting a decline in negative
emotions experienced this decline because of intervention
(counseling) or reconciliation (spiritual effort) or whether the
decline is "natural" as the authors suggest.

Yet another problem is that the questionnaire used by the authors
focused on just five emotional reactions which the women
attributed to their abortions: relief, happiness, regret, guilt,
anger. (Why "sadness" was omitted is unclear.) The "decision
rightness" measure was based on a single question of whether or
not the "abortion was right for them."

But there is clear evidence from other studies that many women
experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which
includes symptoms of denial and avoidance behavior. In a study by
Rue, for example, among women reporting intrusive memories and
dreams related to their abortion, only half attributed these
thoughts to their abortions (http://bit.ly/1Jiwede).  In other 
words, half were in such denial that while on one hand they could 
report certain intrusive thoughts, half denied that these thoughts 
had anything to to do with their abortions.

Therefore, women reporting less "anger" relative to their
abortion may in fact have more feelings of anger in their lives
but may not be attributing this anger to their abortions, but
rather to other problems, though perhaps in counseling, they
might discover their increased feelings of anger were projected
on other issues but are related to unresolved hurt over the past
abortion.

Theresa Bonpartis, who herself underwent an abortion and now
offers support for others  suffering after abortion through
Lumina post-abortion ministry, commented on the study:

    I often wonder where they get the women for these "studies."
Certainly not from places where women who are seeking help go.
This one in particular was done at the Bixby Center for Global
Reproductive Health at UC San Francisco’s School of Medicine.
Biased? Please!

    The study only looked at three years after a woman's
abortion.  Most women do not even begin to deal with an abortion
until around seven years after.

    Lumina receives about 200 new women every year who come to us
because they are suffering from a past abortion and have many
regrets. The prochoice side itself says that 10 percent of women
who have abortions suffer, which in a country where over 56
million abortions have occurred, brings the figure to millions of
women.

    Other studies prove differently. One only has to visit the
Elliot Institute web site (http://bit.ly/1DhBwUv), or Priscilla 
Coleman's research (http://1.usa.gov/1MaVLLx), or many others, 
too many to list, to find that out.  Time magazine's article, 
"Hardly Any Women Regret Having an Abortion" which was
just published and written by "staff" makes a bold statement,
while only looking at this one study.

    To be honest, this makes me angry. Mostly because it
perpetuates the feeling of being crazy if your abortion does
bother you, like there is something wrong with you if it does.
So, if you see this article and are suffering, please reach out
for help, You are not alone; there are millions of us out there
and many great resources for healing. Hope and healing are
possible.


Learn More:

*  They're Still Trying to Disprove Post-Abortion Trauma Syndrome
http://bit.ly/1V4iH1Z

*  Flawed, Biased Turnaway Study Now Claims 95 Percent of Women
Happy After Abortion
http://bit.ly/1J13jib

*  Hardly Any Women Regret Having an Abortion -- Only Millions of
Us!
http://bit.ly/1Hvj26Q

Takeaways from the UCSF Abortion "Turnaway" Study (Series from
NRL News Today):

*  Part I: Set up for a Spin http://bit.ly/1DhAZBT
*  Part II: Finding What They Looked For http://bit.ly/1HNQimF
*  Part III: Spinning the Consequences of Abortion http://bit.ly/1f4DPV2
*  Part IV: Research Team with an Agenda http://bit.ly/1MaVlou
*  Part V: How Bias Can Tilt Results http://bit.ly/1M6imrM

Get Help:
*  Lumina Post-Abortion Ministry http://postabortionhelp.org/pah/
*  Help After Abortion http://afterabortion.org/?page_id=3718
*  Help During Pregnancy http://www.theunchoice.com/pregnancyhelp.htm
*  Center Against Forced Abortions (legal help for those being
pressured, coerced or forced to abort) 
http://thejusticefoundation.org/cafa/


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Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791, United States