One of the most common methodological flaws in abortion research involves the use of poor comparison groups. A good comparison group will match the abortion group as closely as possible, controlling for a number of other factors - age, income, education, and so on. One of the most important factors to control for is the wantedness of the pregnancy. When studying the psychological effects of aborting

This is the first post in what will (hopefully) become a series on the tools used by anti-abortion activists to bend science. My hope is that this information will be used by pro-choice advocates to critically evaluate and counter the massive quantity of bad research produced by anti-abortion interests.Today's post covers the use of biased participant groups.Perhaps the most classic example of this

The Pitch has a nice little post on Missouri's recently-enacted SB-793, which essentially requires doctors to lie to women seeking abortion about the kind of aid offered to them if they continue their pregnancies. The "Alternatives to Abortion Services Fact Sheet" - which abortion doctors must provide to their patients - suggests that medical/prenatal care, food, childcare, housing and utilities,

In Chile, HIV-positive women are lied to and coerced into consenting to sterilization. They are often reprimanded for ever becoming pregnant or desiring pregnancy. They are told that there is no hope for a healthy child (a blatant lie, given that the risk of HIV transmission can be reduced to just 2-5% with medical interventions). In many cases, women are refused counseling and basic information about

In the not-too-distant past, American women were typically relegated to being support staff in their own lives. The sexual revolution and the advent of widely-accessible birth control and safe, legal abortion had an immense impact on the American woman, and whether or not you see that as a good thing depends largely on whether you consider yourself a liberal or a conservative.The rift could not be

Vanguard (a documentary series) recently did an episode on sexual abuse in Native American communities, with a focus on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. According to the filmmakers, Native Americans make up only 9% of the state's population, but account for 40% of its sexual assault cases. One in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime.(Click here to watch the full episode

Blogged by Amanda at Pandagon via RH Reality Check, the National Association of Evangelicals has extended some degree of support for contraception as a means of reducing abortion rates.It's a small victory (contraception was mentioned just once in the press release), but it may be an important one. The propagation of abstinence-only "education" has taken its toll, and many forms of birth control are