A recently published study in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine pulled back the curtain on just how necessary it is for women to be screened for risk factors prior to undergoing an induced abortion. The link between prior risk factors and post-abortive negative outcomes was shown to be strongly correlated. Researchers concluded, based on their analysis, that the lack of such screening can’t be considered anything other than medical negligence.
This is not the kind of research the abortion lobby likes to see.
Co-written by Patricia K. Giebink M.D., David C. Reardon PhD, and Martha W. Shuping M.D., the retrospective cross-sectional study distributed blind surveys to a random sample of 1,000 women aged 41-45 years old. The participants completed the survey, unaware of the topic until after beginning, and received a small reward in exchange for survey completion. The women who reported past induced abortions and completed the survey (226 participants) were asked about prior risk factors to regretting their abortion, including emotional attachment to the pregnancy; maternal instinct conflict; moral conflict; male partner pressure; family pressure; other relational pressure; financial pressure; circumstantial pressure; etc. They also rated the extent to which they imputed negative outcomes to their induced abortion experience.
The results showed that nearly 70% of the post-abortive women reported their abortions were inconsistent with their values/preferences, unwanted, or coerced. Most women reported multiple risk factors, and approximately 85% also reported moderate to severe negative reactions to their abortions.
In conclusion, the study authors wrote, “Our findings confirm what common sense and traditional medical ethics suggest: a failure to screen for risk factors predictive of adverse reactions to abortion is medical negligence. Nowhere else in medicine would the failure to screen for such strongly correlated risk factors be tolerated. Physicians respecting the time-honored Hippocratic Oath should be aware of these risk factors in order to be in a position to provide evidence-based counseling to women and families facing problematic pregnancies.” (emphasis added)
AAPLOG has practice guidelines available, including Counseling the Abortion-Vulnerable Patient and Abortion and Mental Health, which exist to help medical professionals counsel and care for both patients, mother and preborn child.
