Eve Tushnet commented yesterday on the post immediately below. She has subsequently changed some features of her post.

The changes relate to a question about the rate of depression after abortion. Sarah Stoesz of Planned Parenthood indicated in her letter to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that "10 percent of women who have abortions experience depressive symptoms of a lingering nature."

I could have gone on to include her claim, as per her linked letter, that a similar percentage of women who give birth experience lingering depression.

I also could have pointed out that both of her claims are unsupported by current research. Readers who follow the links to current research (posted on the left) will find that the most current research indicates that women in unplanned pregnancies who abort versus those who carry to term experience much higher rates of suicide, psychiatric hospitalization, depression and substance abuse.

I didn't go into all that in my original post because sometimes I do feel like a broken record in citing this research.

What interested me about Sarah Stoesz's letter was her willingness to say that the rate of lingering depression after abortion is as high as 10%. As I mentioned, the available studies show that the rate of post-abortion depression is much higher than than.

Typically, however, Planned Parenthood representatives deny that there is any increase in depression after abortion. That's why I found Stoesz's claim noteworthy.