Garth George: Abortion study results are simply common sense

How wonderful it is to see published the results of genuine, impartial, long-term scientific research that has taken the researchers by surprise yet they have gone ahead and made it public.

How typical it is that the ideologically hidebound, threatened by anything which might question their stance, immediately scramble to discredit the research using well-worn and specious arguments.

And how sinister it is to discover that the researchers had to submit their findings to four apparently reputable international scientific publications before they found one which had the courage to publish them, whereas in the past they succeeded first time.

I refer of course to the work done by the Canterbury Health and Development study, led by Professor David Fergusson, which has tracked the progress of 1265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977 from infancy to adulthood, some 500 of them women - which is what I call real in-depth research.

And which has discovered that young women who have had an abortion may be at increased risk of developing mental health problems.

The study's latest results show that 41 per cent of the women studied had become pregnant by age 25 and 14.6 per cent had had an abortion. By 25 years of age, 42 per cent of those who had had an abortion had also experienced major depression during the previous four years - nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had chosen to continue pregnancy.

I have nothing but admiration for the integrity, honesty and courage of Professor Fergusson and his team in disclosing this information, particularly since he admits that his personal stance is pro-choice, which is a softer way of saying pro-abortion.

And in spite of the fact that most of the 18,200-odd abortions performed in this country last year were done on the grounds that a woman's mental health would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy, Professor Fergusson says there is little evidence to suggest abortion improves mental health.

He went so far as to say: "This study suggests possibly the opposite."

Which isn't surprising considering that his researchers report that, "Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance abuse disorders."

No wonder the ideologues of the Abortion Supervisory Committee, the Mental Health Foundation and Family Planning are running scared, for this research aims an arrow right at the heart of their dogma.

By the same token, the ideologues of the anti-abortion lobby are jumping for joy.

So we can ignore both and concentrate on the veracity of Professor Fergusson's research and ask ourselves what needs to be done about it.

Fortunately, the Canterbury team will follow up on this study next year, when the people involved reach age 30, with more detailed questioning on the effects of abortion.

We cannot trust any "research" done by either the pro or anti-abortion lobbies, because it would be done from a preconceived standpoint and directed at ensuring the justification of that standpoint - as so much so-called "scientific research" is these days.

As Professor Fergusson points out, his reading of the literature on abortion suggests it is "one of the most methodologically flawed and illiterate" research areas he has ever encountered.

But Professor Fergusson's handling of this matter so far indicates that we can trust his judgment absolutely and it is only to be hoped that some other independent and impartial scientists will have the gumption to pick up on his findings and take them further.

Mind you, any such scientists would need a lot of courage for they are up against what has become a multi-billion-dollar racket worldwide, and that doesn't include all the peripherals - the fertility clinics, condom and birth control pill makers, sex educators and those who make vast sums out of so-called erectile dysfunction.

Not to mention the state agencies which have done and are still doing their damnedest to discourage adoption.

Which, perhaps, could help to explain Professor Fergusson's difficulty in placing his findings in the international scientific media.

Yet the Canterbury findings are simply common sense - at least to me and hundreds of thousands of other New Zealanders who know instinctively that human life is sacred and the killing of a child in its mother's womb must have dire consequences.

We are the people who know that men and women are three-dimensional beings, consisting of body, mind and spirit and that as well as the physical and mental there is a spiritual dimension to all things sexual, including historically legitimate intercourse, fornication, adultery, male and female homosexuality, pornography, childbirth and, of course, abortion.

Which explains why all of those things for many, if not most, men and women result in sometimes heartbreaking but always damaging experiences and/or feelings after the event.

In the case of abortion we understand that God created women to bear children and that once that life-giving process has started it can only be injurious to interfere with it.

Which, of course, is not to say that women who choose not to have children are perfectly entitled to make that decision, and without penalty unless they get pregnant.

There is great mystery surrounding the whole question of sex - all of it spiritual and therefore anathema to most scientists - and I suspect it remains hidden in that section of the human DNA string which science has so far been unable to isolate and interpret.

Which probably means that God, who created us, is keeping some of his secrets.