Abortion and mental health: guidelines for proper scientific conduct ignored

Coleman presents her conclusions as ‘an unbiased, quantitative analysis of the best available evidence’ concerning the adverse mental health consequences of abortion. 1 Huge numbers of papers by respectable researchers that have not found negative mental health consequences are ignored without comment. [...]the draft position statement of the Royal College of Psychiatrists concludes that when researchers control for wantedness of the pregnancy and pre-existing mental health problems, there is no increase in mental health disorders following an abortion. Reardon, the leader of this group, has clearly expressed his rhetorical strategy as ‘we can convince many of those who do not see abortion to be a “serious moral evil” that they should support anti-abortion policies that protect women and reduce abortion rates’.