The effect of having an abortion

The JAMANetwork just published a study that looks at the mental health of women five years after either having or being denied an abortion. The study found that…

…compared with having an abortion, being denied an abortion may be associated with greater risk of initially experiencing adverse psychological outcomes. Psychological well-being improved over time so that both groups of women eventually converged. These findings do not support policies that restrict women’s access to abortion on the basis that abortion harms women’s mental health.

 

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If abortion is legal…

…and it is, then it is legal and should be accessible to all. The Hyde Amendment discriminates against women living in poverty, and doesn’t pay for a legal medical procedure. Is there any other procedure so banned? No.

I wrote this for Connecticut Health Investigative Team.

What if we treat guns as we treat abortions?

Here’s why you should love Samantha Bee

A personal abortion story

Jac sent this, an essay by someone who had an abortion. The essay is published anonymously. It includes this:

It doesn’t matter to me what your religion is or what your personal values are. If you do not believe in abortion, don’t get one. Make sure your sex life reflects your values, too. But your values have no place in my uterus.

I’m a Bible-thumping, Jesus-believer. And I couldn’t agree more.

The pope met Kim Davis. Big whup.

Though the world at large is just finding out, during his pop-the-balloons and hug-the-babies visit to the U.S. last week, Pope Francis met Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who’s adamant about not doing her job because God appointed her judge and stuff, in private, at the Vatican Embassy. The embassy is also known as the The Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See, because that title’s fancier.

The reaction among people who were dizzy with excitement over the Pope’s visit has been mixed because — I think — those of us hungry for a return to the idea of service among Christians — are just so stinking happy that someone on high agrees with us. I am not Catholic — far from it — but I devoted more than a handful of blogs to his visit.

Am I disappointed that he spent time with the Right’s Lil’ Darlin’? Why yes. Yes, I am. But then, we aren’t anywhere near the same pew on just about everything else.

Because, honestly: Abortion? Female priests? Marriage equality? I couldn’t disagree with him more.

He and Davis talked for 10 minutes. Davis got a rosary (which for her, as an Apostolic Christian, has all the significance of a dog being handed a spool of thread.) (No offense.). I will continue focusing on his messages about poverty. I hope he does, too.

And for a balanced perspective from James Martin SJ at America Magazine: The National Catholic Review (and thanks, Bro. ChrisB), go here. Takeaway line?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Pope Francis also met Mark Wahlberg, and that does not mean that he liked “Ted.”

Anti-abortion activists are using public record laws to pry into private medical records

Well, this is new, from ProPublica. From that link:

Abortion opponents insist their tactics are generally not aimed at identifying women who have abortions but to uncover incidents involving patients who may have been harmed by poor care or underage girls who may have been sexually abused. They say they are trying to prevent situations such as the one involving Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in 2013 of murdering three babies after botched abortions and of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman.

“This is about saving the lives of women,” said Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is based in Wichita, Kansas. “A lot of people don’t understand that. It’s a systemic problem within the abortion industry today for abortion providers to cut corners on patient care.”

And thanks, Leftover, for the link.