Media Release on latest Abortion Supervisory Committee Report

According to the 2007 Abortion Supervisory Committee Report released on Friday, 98.9% of the 17,934 abortions in 2006 were approved on mental health grounds.

The official rationale is that having the abortion will prevent women from developing mental health problems.

In fact, a landmark Canterbury University Health and Development Study in 2005 found that nearly half the post-abortive women they examined: (quote)“had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance abuse disorders.”

Professor David Fergusson, who headed the Study requested the Abortion Supervisory Committee to commission more research and: “have an assessment six months later to see what the evidence is revealing.”

“That would have been the responsible and sensible course of action to take.”

The previous Abortion Supervisory Committee declined to commission any research, and the new Committee appears to be continuing that refusal.

In November 2006, the Justice and Health Ministries confirmed that they would not be undertaking any analysis of the Canterbury University Study team’s findings.

Voice for Life says that it was bad enough when a previous ASC chairwoman admitted that 98% of abortions are performed on “spurious mental health grounds.”

Now, the evidence from the Canterbury University Study indicates that many women are being seriously affected by their abortions, yet the ASC declines to admit there could be a problem and fails again to commission evidence-based research.

Voice for Life says that this “head-in-the-sand” attitude by the ASC and its 205 certifying consultants (who collectively were paid $5,026,000 up to 30 June 2007) is irresponsible and lulls unsuspecting women into a false sense of security about choosing abortion.

Voice for Life calls on both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice (who oversees the ASC) to commission the analysis and research requested by the Canterbury University 2005 Health and Development Study.

ENDS

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