Planned Parenthood still knows better than the "flawed scientists" who publish in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Medical Science Monitor, British Medical Journal and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

(sigh...here we go again)

[UPDATE AT THE END]

Flat. out. bullshit and further, current proof that Planned Parenthood is the perpetual perpetrator of a number of myths, in particular Myth # 3, shredded almost four years ago on this blog in October 2004.

According to Planned Parenthood, May 2008:

Research indicates that emotional problems resulting from abortion are rare and that for most women the response is relief...Anti-abortion groups have invented [“post-abortion syndrome (PAS)”] to further their cause. [SEE UPDATE AT THE END FOR THE DEBUNKING OF THIS MYTH] All of the studies that purport to prove PAS contain flaws – and all of them studied women who already self-identified as having problems after abortion.

According to Planned Parenthood October 2004:

Serious, long-term emotional problems after abortion are extremely rare and less common than they are after childbirth. Such problems are more likely if...a woman is depressed or already has emotional problems...Some people who oppose women's right to make their own decisions claim that abortion causes long-lasting emotional problems, or ‘post-abortion syndrome’ [Author's note: PAS]. There is no scientific proof for these claims.”

Four years ago, in 2004, Planned Parenthood lied and told us "there's no scientific proof" when in fact, there was: 5 studies between 2001 and 2003 (linked to in the Myth #3 debunking) and the APA's DSM III-R: in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1987-1994), abortion was listed as a life event which can produce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It appears that Planned Parenthood believes its own Koolaid so rabidly that first they lie about those 5 research studies from 2001-2003, evaluating National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data (the objective, anonymous medial records of 1,884 women with a first pregnancy) and the objective, anonymous records of 173,000 California women...THEN they dismiss the studies, which were not flawed (note PP provides no proof of this claim either, you're just supposed to b e l i e v e what they tell you...again).

Research actually indicates that emotional problems resulting from abortion are NOT rare and does NOT indicate that for most women the response is relief. Read the research studies yourselves:

Psychiatric admissions were more common among women at anytime between 90 days to 4 years after an...abortion, than among those who carried a pregnancy to term. [of women with no previous psychiatric admissions or pregnancy events during the year before]

Women were 63% more likely to receive mental care within 90 days of an abortion, than after giving birth. Also, significantly higher rates of later mental health treatment persisted over the entire four years of data examined. Abortion was most strongly associated with later treatments for neurotic depression, bipolar disorder, adjustment reactions, and schizophrenic disorders.

You'll also read in that post that I said (almost four years ago to the day) right there in paragraph 3:

Keep in mind, I'm not saying, nor does the APA's 1987 version of its strictly-regulated 'rules' in this book say that PTSD = PAS (Post Abortion Syndrome), or that PAS is a clinical diagnosis. What I am reporting as seen with my own eyes is that, when describing the diagnosis and symptoms of PTSD, abortion is one of the life events the APA acknowledged in 1987 that could bring on some or all symptoms of PTSD.

Why not ask Planned Parenthood why they never tell you that abortion was officially considered a PTSD stressor, just like being in combat is, by the most respected psychological association for seven years? Why not ask PP why the APA strangely removed abortion as a PTSD stressor from its DSM-IV book in 1994, without doing the standard, extensive research they themselves required for removing or inserting anything into this manual?

Planned Parenthood really has some great wordsmiths on board. Note the semantics game Planned Parenthood plays with the phrase "already self-identified as having problems after abortion." The above-cited studies were of women (postabortive and non PA) who did or did not seek mental health treatment, get treated for clinical depression and/or substance abuse, get admitted to psychiatric hospitals, and the like. Nowhere did these women "self-identify" that these problems were related to or caused by their abortions. When they came for their mental health treaments/admissions, the medical personnel took objective medical histories, just as we all do when we see the doctor or are admitted to hospital. These data came from those medical intake/stay histories. In fact, these studies were not interview-based studies, which are the typical source of "self-identification" claims. They were comparison studies, records-based studies, that looked at women's physical hardcopy, paper records AFTER they'd received treatment!

To Planned Parenthood, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Medical Science Monitor, British Medical Journal and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and those who publish research studies in those journals are all just "fake scientists."

Planned Parenthood, you've become rather desperate if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over again (peddling the same lies) and keep expecting a different result (to finally dupe all women intelligent enough to read and learn and who have discovered that you're lying).

Isn't that the definiton of insanity?

Planned Parenthood, to be intellectually and emotionally 100% honest, you must take your "claims" to their "logical conclusion:" if "most women do fine" and "self-identifying" a problem coping after abortion is not only grounds for dismissal of a research study but also the truth and reality of a woman's problem, then why do you now encourage women to "self-identify" ("journals in the recovery room", "talk about the mixed feelings")? You're just setting women up so you can shoot us down for "self-identifying"!

Planned Parenthood's ohsonewlysensitive website letter goes on:

Fear of being judged (or worse) keeps some women from talking with the very people they usually go to for emotional support.

That works both ways, Planned Parenthood: you have already judged (and worse) postabortive women who may have been solidly pro-choice but maybe now are on the fence or silently have come to regret their abortions, and that's why they're not talking with the very people they usually used to go to for emotional support: Planned Parenthood.

That's why they're Googling for "abortion and suicide", "how will you feel after an abortion", "men coping with abortion", "negative effects of abortion", "regrets after abortion", "can u still have kids after an abortion", "after effects of an abortion", "Life after abortion", "difficulties after an abortion", "spiritual conseqences of an abortion" and coming here. And all those, 100 in total, anonymous visitors were only in the last 24 hours.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO READ THE SHREDDING OF THE 15 MYTHS ABOUT ABORTION, THE LINKS ARE THERE. Please bear in mind we haven't updated those much in 4 years, but there are more studies published in many of those areas since then that refute Planned Parenthood's and the abortion industry's claims, we just haven't had the time to research them. Please send us information if you have done that research, we can add it easily. These are the 15 myths shredded:

#1: Does getting an abortion hurt?

#2: How will I feel after an abortion?

#3: Any emotional problems after abortion?

#4: Does abortion cause breast cancer?

#5: Does an early abortion make ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy more likely in the future?

#6: What about future pregnancies? Will an early abortion affect my ability to have a child in the future?

#7: Does an early abortion cause premature birth or low infant birth weight in future pregnancies? Does an early abortion make miscarriage more likely in the future? Does having several abortions affect future pregnancies?

#8: Does an early abortion cause birth defects in future pregnancies?

#9: Does an early abortion increase the chance of infant death in the future?

#10: "More women die from childbirth than from legal abortions."

#11: "Women don’t die from legal abortions, only from illegal ones."

#12: "If abortion is illegal, even more women will die than the 78,000 dying now."

#13: "It's my body; this doesn't affect anyone else!"

#14: "You'll go right back to being the person you were before."

#15: "My reproductive rights and the 'right to privacy' are guaranteed by the Constitution."

HT: friend and fellow blogger Pansy from Pansy and Peony

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UPDATE 5/19/08:
Interesting that probably the first place I heard the term PAS/PASS (Post abortion stress syndrome) was on the site that Rachael links to in the comments box, the PASS boards. I did a Wayback Machine search and found that the earliest currently-archived website for the PASS site was up on Nov. 28, 1999.

Note that THEY're the site created by a woman who believes abortion should remain legal but designed the site to stay neutral about the political/legal aspects of abortion. The current homepage today says, "This site is for women who have had an abortion, and want a place to talk about their abortion, and find peer support in a neutral, non-judgemental place. The site was created in June 1998..."

Back in 1999, it said, "I knew I was not the only woman out there who was suffering after an abortion, and decided to create my own special place for women who felt like I did - that abortion should remain legal, but that the issues of PASS and healing needed to be addressed, and that we needed a place to 'call our own'. So this site began, as a few pages about PASS, a survey, and one message board. Since then, it has grown to have many message boards, many chats, lots of opinion pieces and lots of information to help women who've had an abortion and need help in recovering."

Over a million posts in fact, and over 17,000 members:

As of 08-09-2007, the message boards have: Threads: 159,964, Posts: 1,273,049, Members: 17,041

I don't think the PASS site's founder is a doctor and I don't think they meant for it to be a clinical diagnosis, but isn't it interesting that Planned Parenthood is accusing pro-life groups of creating the term PAS/PASS, when in fact it wasn't a prolife group or person at all, but a pro-choice one.