Texas' revised abortion booklet criticized as inaccurate

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Texas' revised abortion booklet criticized as inaccurate

Will Weissert, Associated Press

Updated 4:36 pm, Thursday, July 28, 2016

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The new version of a booklet that Texas produces for women considering an abortion is being criticized for suggesting that terminating pregnancies can lead to heightened risks for breast cancer and depression.

State law has mandated since 2003 that doctors provide women mulling an abortion with a booklet called "A Woman's Right to Know." Women also must wait 24 hours after being given the booklet before undergoing the procedure.

This year marks the first new version in 13 years, and a public comment period to evaluate it ends Friday. It's a sensitive time in the state, which saw the U.S. Supreme Court strike down key portions of its 2013 law that created some of the nation's tightest restrictions on abortion.

The Department of State Health Services will evaluate comments before publishing the final version, though there's no timetable on how long that will take, spokeswoman Carrie Williams said. But the agency will only consider comments on its revisions, not the booklet as a whole — and many of the most controversial sections aren't new.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-revised-abortion-booklet-criticized-as-8501939.php

[uppityperson]

1. Very much inaccurate. K&R for wider exposure

[area51]

2. They've been trying to push that

crap that abortion = breast cancer & abortion = depression for a long time.

[Igel]

3. The first isn't wrong as put in the OP.

The earlier your first full-term pregnancy and the more full-term pregnancies you have the lower the breast cancer risk. Breast feeding also lowers the risk, and the longer you nurse the child the lower the risk. This has been known for at least a decade.

If you end the first pregnancy it stands to reason that the later first full-term pregnancy would lower the risk less. Abortion doesn't elevate the risk. "Women who have had an induced abortion have the same risk of breast cancer as other women." Which is what the TX pamphlet says in as many words.

Problem is, for many "removes the protection" or "fails to decrease" is somehow taken to mean "increases." People always want to flip that negative sign (lower risk) and make it positive (higher risk) when the right answer is 0 (unchanged risk).

Pregnancy also has some risks--you're at slightly greater risk of breast cancer for a few months. It has its own complications-related risk set. But it also lowers the risk of ovarian cancer.

Have to add that last paragraph and also a reference, since for many critical thinking always shows hostility. If you criticize my view, you must have the opposite view. I like Feynman's attitude--thinking critically about others is a snap, it's what we do; thinking critically about our own view is hard, but most important. The easiest person for me to deceive is myself. (He didn't continue as he probably should--and the person I trust most to tell me the truth is myself, so once I've deceived myself it's extra hard to become undeluded.)

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/reproductive-history-fact-sheet

[prayin4rain]

4. Having a baby that you can't afford to feed, can also lead to depression. nt

[hamsterjill]

6. +1000

n/t

[displacedtexan]

5. San Francisco and Oakland have banned false info on reproductive procedures.

Oakland just passed the law this week. SF has had it for a while now. Under these laws, those "crisis pregnancy centers" and other sham businesses that open their doors, lie to trusting women, and close up shop when challenged can no longer get away with zip.

I freakin' love living in SF, y'all! Hardly a wingnut in sight.

[Ilsa]

8. Having a baby can also bring on baby blues, depression, even

Psychosis in extremely rare cases. And I wonder how much post-abortion blues can be attributed to being shamed about sex, birth control failure, the decision to have the abortion, and then pregnancy hormones.

But republicans in Texas don't care. They only push misinformation and lies. Shame on them.