SD Abortion-Suicide Law Upheld by Federal Court Over Injuries to Women

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep. 27, 2012 - In a 7-4 ruling on July 24, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a South Dakota law requiring abortion doctors to tell patients that women who undergo an abortion run a higher than normal risk of suicide. In a 27-page opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond W. Gruender wrote for the majority, saying that there was “extensive evidence in the record” of increased risk for suicide among women who undergo an abortion.

The South Dakota law was passed in 2005 and was fully in effect until September 2011 when the provision requiring the suicide advisory was struck down by a three-judge appellate panel.

Abortion-Suicide Link Confirmed

Gruender wrote, "Various studies found this correlation to hold, even when controlling for the effects of other potential causal factors for suicide, including pre-existing depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, child neuroticism, and low self-esteem."

The law also requires doctors to provide women with a written statement to include the following: a) abortion increases their chance of hemorrhaging and future infertility, b) a “scientifically accurate statement” describing the development of the unborn child at the age at which the procedure is to take place, and c) that abortion “will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.” (See all requirements of the law on South Dakota legislature website (http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2005/bills/HB1166enr.pdf).)

A 2001 Elliot Institute study (http://afterabortion.org/2001/suicide-rate-higher-after-a...) of California medical records found that of 173,000 women who either had abortions or gave birth, those who had state-funded abortions were 2.6 times more likely to die of suicide compared to women who delivered their babies.

Another study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2011, found that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems, especially substance abuse and suicide, compared to women who carried their pregnancies to term.

Women's Care Center in La Grange, IL Can Help

Women in La Grange, La Grange Park, Brookfield, Lyons, Countryside, Western Springs, Westchester, Hinsdale, Berwyn and nearby cities who think they might be pregnant and who are considering an abortion should call Women’s Care Center of La Grange, at 708-352-5000for a free pregnancy test (http://www.pregnancychoices4me.org/am-i-pregnant/) and more information. The center is located at 47 S. 6th Ave., La Grange, IL.

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