# UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists claims abortion could lead to mental illness

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 17, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624 "2008-03-17T05:01:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![BrainFireBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@BrainFireBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainFireBob)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624/61 "2008-03-19T07:32:09Z")

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Question for the sake of intellectual honesty: If there is risk to women undergoing abortions that they are not informed of, or has not been adequately researched, is it moral to suppress it for fear of “the pro-lifers!” Is that not the same as the “pro-choicers” spreading the same lies and deceit they accuse the pro-lifers of?

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**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624/62 "2008-03-19T09:33:51Z")

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[QUOTE=BrainFireBob]  
Question for the sake of intellectual honesty: If there is risk to women undergoing abortions that they are not informed of, or has not been adequately researched, is it moral to suppress it for fear of “the pro-lifers!” Is that not the same as the “pro-choicers” spreading the same lies and deceit they accuse the pro-lifers of?  
[/QUOTE]

Of course not - suppressing women’s health issues to support pro-Choice is in their best interest!

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**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624/63 "2008-03-19T18:22:23Z")

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[QUOTE=GomiBoy]  
Of course not - suppressing women’s health issues to support pro-Choice is in their best interest!  
[/QUOTE]

Well, at least you’re not poisoning the well or anything.

If there is a risk, then yes, they should be advised, as with any procedure. If it hasn’t been adequately researched…as with any procedure…it should be mentioned as “a possible risk,” with the explanation that no link has been conclusively show. Which, again, is on the website I linked earlier.

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**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-royal-college-of-psychiatrists-claims-abortion-could-lead-to-mental-illness/441624/64 "2008-03-19T18:48:31Z")

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[QUOTE=Maureen]  
Well, at least you’re not poisoning the well or anything.

If there is a risk, then yes, they should be advised, as with any procedure. If it hasn’t been adequately researched…as with any procedure…it should be mentioned as “a possible risk,” with the explanation that no link has been conclusively show. Which, again, is on the website I linked earlier.  
[/QUOTE]

Which is exactly what not only I, but the RCPsych are asking for.

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