Abortion Does Not Cause Mental Illness ... Yesterday's Roundup [18] linked to a story in the Wall Street Journal [19] announcing that a comprehensive review of studies done in the last two decades on the affects of abortion on the mental health of women was to be released yesterday. I anticipated a spin war if the result was anything but unambiguous. But the result was completely unambiguous. From the press release of the American Psychological Association [20] announcing the findings of the review of studies:
There is no credible evidence that a single elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in and of itself causes mental health problems for adult women, according to a draft report released Tuesday by a task force of the American Psychological Association.
The APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion reached its conclusions after evaluating all of the empirical studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals since 1989 that compared the mental health of women who had an induced abortion to comparison groups of women, or that examined factors that predict mental health among women who have had an elective abortion in the United States. The task force, formed in 2006, was charged with collecting, examining and summarizing the scientific research addressing mental health factors associated with abortion, including the psychological responses following abortion.
Misleading Distortions of Obama's Record on Abortion Legislation Continue Despite Conclusive Debunking ... Nine days ago Seth Colter Walls exposed the far right's latest lies about Sen. Barack Obama's votes on abortion legislation [21]in the Illinois Senate. The right, led by attack dog Deal Hudson, is deliberately lying about Obama's votes on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act and using the lies to justify labelling Obama as a supporter of "infanticide." Despite Walls' well-researched debunking of this line of attack, the lies were repeated today [22] in a post published by The Daily Standard.
John McCain is an Anti-choice Zealot ... The New Republic has a great, very in-depth, look at just how passionately anti-choice Sen. John McCain really is [23]. Polling reveals that the American public remains largely confused about McCain's stances on reproductive health issues simply because he has made many conflicting, and politically expedient, public statements about his beliefs. But the fact is that McCain is adamantly anti-choice:
While McCain has positioned himself as 'pro-life' during this campaign, his statements over the years show considerable latitude on the issue."
That, however, is simply not true. There is no "latitude" in McCain's position on abortion. Interviews with dozens of people who have dealt with him on the issue--pro-choice and pro-life activists, Hill staffers, McCain confidants, pollsters, and staffers--along with a two-and-a-half-decade-long perfectly anti-abortion voting record, make that clear. And his record on related issues, like contraception, is no better. "I think it is outrageous that people give him a pass, as they gave George W. Bush a pass," reflects Feldt. "John McCain will be that and worse."
...
During his political career, McCain has participated in 130 reproductive health-related votes on Capitol Hill; of these, he voted with the anti-abortion camp in 125.
The article goes on for five pages looking into McCain's past votes and why this year's electorate is having a hard time understanding that McCain is very clearly anti-choice. Give it a read and pass it along.
Mad Cow Rules Hit Sperm Banks ... US women seeking the sperm of Nordic men for IVF pregnencies are finding a short supply due to regulatory measures to prevent the introduction of the human version of mad cow disease into the US writes Rob Stein in the Washington Post [24].