First, from my understanding of the hypothetical Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS), I don’t believe there is such a thing as PAS. I can argue that the evidence doesn’t support it from different perspectives, but since I’m a pro-choice activist, a guy, and I’m not a scientist, it could be said that I have a bias against fairly evaluating the validity of various PAS studies and diagnostic criteria. But if PAS was a valid syndrome, I suppose it could be listed as something like a DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) mental health “disorder�, kind of like manic-depression or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), to give two examples of what most people would agree are scientifically valid, psychatrically useful definitions of mental disorders. I think even a layperson can read the DSM and gain a helpful understanding of psychiatric disorders, especially if one is careful not to use it as some sort of field manual for unprofessional labeling and diagnosis. If you look at what is alleged to be PAS as a hypothesized mental health disorder, and compare it to other mental health disorders, I think it’s easier to see that so-called PAS is all the more not likely to be a valid psychiatric disorder. If I can see that, even as a guy and with all of the above disclaimers applying to me, I think it’s all the easier to convincingly debunk PAS and the agenda behind it.

But keep an eye on the movement behind PAS, people. I think that what was once alleged to be “Post-Abortion Syndrome� may someday be similarly alleged in a hypothesized “Post-Emergency Contraception Syndrome� (PECS).

I don’t think that it’s likely that allegations along those lines are likely to lead to a significant effort to outright criminalize contraception any more than anti-choice efforts are likely to lead to abortion bans or overturning what little is left of Roe v Wade. Most antis actually do support abortion rights of a sort, namely for rape, incest, and “me�. There are a lot of bureaucrats, even avowed pro-choice allies, who in a perverse way benefit from restrictive laws (“reasonable� restrictions, in other words), as it makes them money. There are a lot more bureaucrats making money off of enforcing those regulations than there are abortion providers making money off of abortion, right?.

For adult women, there is a strong lobby against laws that in practice actually block (“unduly burden�, in the language of the 1992 Supreme Court Casey decision) adult women with some money and health insurance from getting an abortion, as even waiting periods and biased informed consent laws don’t really stop most determined adult women who want an abortion from getting one. But for minors especially, outside of the few states where there are no parental notification laws there’s little argument being put up anymore outside of fundraising appeals from pro-choice groups against parental notification or consent laws. I think that especially since the 1992 Casey decision, the idea that laws that might impair competent young and poor women from getting an abortion should be subject to “strict scrutiny� and overturned has all but vanished, even in the pro-choice community.

The lack of mention of the focus and impact of anti-choice efforts on young and poor women, even in otherwise apparently pro-choice articles like the NYT Magazine article discussed here (and most of the pro-choice comments I’ve read), and the persistent successful anti-choice efforts to hype PAS makes me very concerned that we see someday to allege negative effects from emergency contraception (EC) – perhaps a PECS? – which may influence restricting minor’s and poor women’s access to EC and to a fair choice among an increasing diversity of contraception options – options that older and more privileged women (and men) will continue to have access to, but which I’m afraid young and poor women may see themselves shut out from.

I hope a controversy over “PECS� – a term I invented which I’m pretty sure the antis haven’t even proposed yet – I hope it doesn’t happen. I’ll do what I can to rebut it if it does happen. But if it happens, I’m sure it will be very carefully targeted on young and poor women. And I’ll probably wish that my pro-choice colleagues would speak more directly, with commitment, on how it affects those young and poor women.

And I think I’ll be able to say for sure, you read of “PECS� here first.

Is there a post-adoption syndrome in women who give their babies up?

I agree. However the study by Fergusson, et al, is not statistically invalid per se. The research does have shortcomings which are acknowledged by the (pro-choice) researcher. Fergusson also cautions against attaching too much significance to the findings.

This does not mean that his results can be dismissed out of hand. To do so is to emulate the approach to science (or to intelligence, for that matter) of the Bush administration. Picking and choosing scientific study results based on a policy bias is a rightwing specialty. Let’s avoid that trap. In fact, the Fergusson study is fairly insignificant; we don’t need to pretend it doesn’t exist.

“I’m not depressed. Something must be wrong with me, because I had an abortion and I don’t feel guilty. I must be broken somehow.”

I think a great deal of what passes for “post abortion syndrome” is actually women who are *not* upset by the abortion, but are upset because they believe (due to societal roles and expectations) that a “normal, decent woman” would feel guilt and regret.

My conclusions are that there are a few women - few and far between - who suffer serious regret. I wouldn’t categorize it as a “syndrome” because that’s not what it is - not all grief or regret is a psychological disorder. Those feelings are valid, but they are also rare. They are much more common in women with other life problems, for obvious reasons.

But the vast majority of women deal just fine. Often some sadness for the first 1-3 months, often some significant upsetness while the pregnancy hormones clear out, but they are soon back to their normal lives.

Because human beings are resiliant. We get through things. We go on. And sometimes we are even empowered by our experiences. And also - abortion is not really that bad. In fact, for many women it is, dare I say, easy.

Feel free to check out my abortion information community for verification: http://www.livejournal.com/users/abortioninfo.

I refer to that community because there’s less in the way of statistical selection; we get women and girls from all walks of life with all different attitudes and emotions. We have about 80 member-donated stories linked there.

I think it’s legitimate to discount studies that are not statistically valid. Otherwise, I could ask my two friends how they feel, then write that up as a study, and you’d have to acknowledge it as “a study linking X to Y.”