According to Lifesite News, doctors and psychiatrists were prompted to draw up ‘Abortion and Women’s Mental Health’ when the College’s own recently released document ignored the issue while advocating availability ofabortion. In doing so, the College has been accused of ignoring “the conclusions of various qualitative and quantitative studies that demonstrate the damage that is caused to the mother who has an abortion”.
In all, 151 Chilean psychologists, 47 psychiatrists, and 10 medical doctors signed ‘Abortion and Women’s Mental Health’, which reports that “apart from the death of the unborn [there exists] sufficient evidence to demonstrate that abortion causes damage to the mental health of women and their families”.
“Even more, there exists no evidence whatsoever that demonstrates that abortion is favourable to or is restorative of the mental health of women who find themselves in these difficult situations.”
Drawn up by the College of Psychologists’ Commission on Gender and Sexual Diversity, the pro-abortion document implies that women are made to feel ‘inferior’ by not being able to access abortion, and asserts that the association of paternity with men and maternity with women is a “cultural construction.”
The College report has been issued as the Chilean national congress prepares to vote on legislation that would legalize abortion in three cases: danger to the life of the mother, foetal deformity, and rape. The College has chosen to focus heavily on the issue of rape, something which the responding mental health professionals insist is a politicising of the crime.
“It seems to us that using the suffering of a woman who has suffered a sexual assault as a tool for validating the murder of a human being in gestation, is at least troubling coming from a professional association,” they write.
They conclude: “With this, the College of Psychologists is not only guilty of a methodological error, but also loses seriousness and credibility.”
‘Abortion and Women’s Mental Health’ can be viewed online at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/lifesite/Abortion_and_Women%E2%80%99s_Mental_Health_-_English_Translation.pdf
