Major study on abortion/mental health risk under attack, but criticisms baseless

It did not take long for a new study finding a link between abortion and mental health to spark unfounded criticism of the paper and attacks against the author.  The prestigious British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP) recently published “Abortion and Mental Health: Quantitative Synthesis and Analysis of Research Published 1995-2009.” The paper, a culmination of Dr. Priscilla Coleman’s extensive experience in the field of abortion and mental health, finds that women who have undergone abortion have an 81% increase in the risk of mental health problems, and an even greater risk for substance misuse and suicidal behaviour (230% and 155% respectively). Nearly 10% of the incidence of all mental health problems was shown to be directly attributable to abortion.  Dr. Coleman uses a methodologically stringent criteria for the selection of studies. The sample encompasses 22 studies, 36 measurements of mental health effects and 877,181 participants of whom 163,831 had experienced an abortion.  One of the largest studies available on the subject, its robust conclusions warranted serious attention.