WASHINGTON, March 2, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com/culture-of-life.org) – The Culture of Life Foundation’s Culture & Cosmos e-zine revealed today that a Senate hearing titled, The Impact of Abortion on Women, is planned for the near future. The Senate committee will hear testimony presented by previously “pro-choice” women who tell how the impact of their own abortions changed their minds. A medical expert is also to review the research on the physical and psychological effects of abortion. Dr. Elizabeth Shadigian, a doctor and researcher at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and the author of “Long-Term Physical and Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion: Review of the Evidence”, is scheduled to attest to the association between abortion and mental health problems. Her thesis derives from the fact that miscarriage does not carry any of the mental health ramifications that abortion does. Dr. Shadigian argues that “The fact that the effects are seen after induced abortion rather than before, indicates either common risk factors for both choosing abortion and attempting suicide, such as depression, or harmful effects of induced abortion on mental health. This phenomena is not seen after spontaneous abortion [miscarriage],” she states. A number of advocates for recognizing the harm of abortion are scheduled to appear. One is Michaelene Jenkins, the Executive Director for the Life Resource Network Women’s Task Force, who believes that many women have abortions “not so much out of choice, but out of desperation or as a last resort. [and] many are left with physical or emotional scars that negatively affect their lives for years and sometimes decades.”
Also scheduled is Georgette Forney, the Executive Director for the National Organization of Episcopal for Life (NOEL) and the Co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. Jenkins and Forney will both share personal stories of the devastating impact that abortion has had in their own lives. Detractors are also expected to disagree with the abortion-mental health connection. Dr. Nada Stotland, a Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Rush Medical, claims that post-abortion mental health problems are falsely linked to abortion, but are rather the result of a pre-existing, pre-abortion mental condition. The Culture of Life Foundation can be reached at: https://www.culture-of-life.org