Wanna have a bad day?

Now I'm a few days too late on this, you'll have to forgive me, but if you think you're feeling just too bright and cheery today, have a look at this condescending New York Times (natch) article that covers post-abortion trauma centers that meet the needs of women harmed by abortion while matter-of-factly claiming that "the idea that abortion is at the root of women’s psychological ills is not supported by the bulk of the research."

Of course, framing the debate is half, if not most, of the battle. That statement deceptively appears to refute all of the pro-life claims while being worded in such a way as to be plausibly defensible. What psychological ills? Note that it doesn't say "the root of certain psychological ills", thus implying that the pro-life argument is that all of a woman's problems are caused by abortion. That's not the argument at all, of course; the argument is that abortion can and does hurt women. It doesn't take a pro-lifer, for example, to realize that there is a chance that a woman may be wracked by guilt over her decision, or that she may go through painful what-if scenarios. Only the most hardened feminist will come out of an abortion clinic bright and cheerful. Abortion is not a happy event and this needs to be acknowledged.

I would like to see this research, though. Who did it? (Guttmacher?) Who did they talk to? What were they measuring? Part of the problem is that it's not entirely obvious what causes what. If someone is not considering abortion as a possible cause, they will be unlikely to find it. It's easy to attribute psychological issues to other causes if one is predisposed to do so.

It's hard to believe that these counseling centers would stay in business if there was no causality between abortion and psychological trauma. I've heard many stories of women dreaming about fetuses and having other indications that are obviously associated with their abortion. I'm not going to argue that every woman experiences significant psychological trauma from abortion. Nor am I going to deny that abortion can be glibly blamed for all of a woman's problems, and that it is possible to convince someone wrongly that their troubles are all due to abortion. A dose of professional skepticism may be in order for some counselors. But let's not go the other way and pretend it has no effect on anyone.