Abortion advocates promote abortion as a solution to the problems generated by an unplanned pregnancy. With regard to abortion and his own daughters, US President Barack Obama has said "If they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
Doctor Priscilla K. Coleman, research psychologist at Bowling Green State University (USA), recently published the article "Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995-2009" in The British Journal of Psychiatry. She reviewed nearly 15 years of research examining abortion's effects on the mental health of the women who undergo the procedure. Her review encompassed 22 studies from 6 countries; taken together, the studies included over 800,000 women, 163,000 of whom had undergone abortion.
Her results? Subjecting the studies to rigorous statistical methods in order to draw meaningful conclusions, she found "that women who have had an abortion experienced an 81% higher risk of mental health problems of various forms when compared with women who had not had an abortion." In specific areas, women who underwent abortions suffered higher rates of alcohol use (110%), overall anxiety (34%), suicidal activity (155%) and depression (37%) than women who had not had abortions. Coleman also mentioned the common finding that women who carry a child to term have significantly lower suicide rates compared to the general population.
President Obama is right when he suggests that its a mistake to have a child outside marriage; the best situation is to save sex for marriage and to keep it in marriage so that children can be conceived and reared in an environment of support and love. Nevertheless, extensive research demonstrates that fixing the "mistake" of an unplanned pregnancy with abortion punishes the mother.
May Swaziland protect the well-being of her daughters and mothers by saving sex for marriage and keeping it in marriage. May the nation avoid the tragic "One dead child, one wounded mother" syndrome of abortion. No to abortion; yes to love and life.
Rudy Poglitshrpoglitsh@live.com
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