"The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court.

...The decision, the first in which the court has upheld a ban on a specific method of abortion, means that doctors who perform the prohibited procedure may face criminal prosecution, fines and up to two years in prison. The federal law, enacted in 2003, had been blocked from taking effect by the lower court rulings that the Supreme Court overturned.

The banned procedure, known medically as "intact dilation and extraction," involves removing the fetus in an intact condition rather than dismembering it in the uterus. Both methods are used to terminate pregnancies beginning at about 12 weeks, after the fetus has grown too big to be removed by the suction method commonly used in the first trimester, when 85 percent to 90 percent of all abortions take place.

While the ruling will thus have a direct impact on only a relatively small subset of abortion practice, the decision has broader implications for abortion regulations generally, indicating a change in the court's balancing of the various interests involved in the abortion debate.

Most notable was the emphasis in the majority opinion, by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, on the implication of abortion's "ethical and moral concerns."

'The act expresses respect for the dignity of human life,' Justice Kennedy said.

...On Wednesday, he said that 'whatever one's views concerning the Casey joint opinion, it is evident a premise central to its conclusion - that the government has a legitimate and substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life - would be repudiated were the court now to affirm the judgments of the courts of appeals' that struck down the federal law.

In describing the federal law's justifications, Justice Kennedy said that banning the procedure was in fact good for women, protecting them against terminating their pregnancies by a method they might not fully understand in advance and would come to regret later.

'Respect for human life finds an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child,' he said, adding: 'It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child, a child assuming the human form.' "

"That abortion is bad for fetuses is a statement of the obvious. That it is bad for women, too, is a contested premise that nonetheless got five votes at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

It was a development that stunned abortion rights advocates and that represents a major departure from how the court has framed the abortion issue for the past 34 years. The question on the day after the justices voted 5 to 4 to uphold the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is where the court goes from here.

...But never until Wednesday had the court held that an abortion procedure could be prohibited because the procedure itself, not the pregnancy, threatened a woman's health - mental health, in this case, and moral health as well. In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy suggested that a pregnant woman who chooses abortion falls away from true womanhood.

'Respect for human life finds an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child,' he said.

...[H]e said it was nonetheless 'self-evident' and 'unexceptional to conclude' that 'some women' who choose to terminate their pregnancies suffer 'regret,' 'severe depression,' 'loss of esteem' and other ills.

Consequently, he said, the government has a legitimate interest in banning a particularly problematic abortion procedure to prevent women from casually or ill-advisedly making 'so grave a choice.'

If 'a necessary effect of the regulation and the knowledge it conveys will be to encourage some women to carry the infant to full term,' Justice Kennedy continued, that outcome will advance 'the state's interest in respect for life.'"

For more than 30 years, feminist activists have been congratulating themselves on having won for American women a nearly unfettered right to abortion. That these activists ignore the unborn lives snuffed out has deeply troubled many Americans.  But new research is raising troubling questions even for Americans willing to focus exclusively on the well-being of the women who seek abortions.

Recently published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, a study conducted by researchers at Christchurch Health and Development Study indicates that when young women abort their unborn children, they often subsequently suffer from a range of serious psychological problems.  Examining data collected from 520 New Zealand young women for the first 25 years of their lives, the Christchurch scholars adduce evidence that "young women reporting abortions had elevated rates of mental health problems when compared with those becoming pregnant without abortion."  The litany of psychological problems associated with abortion includes "depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours, and substance use disorders."

The association between abortion and psychological vulnerability persists in statistical models that take into account differences in psychological history and disparities in economic and social circumstances.  The researchers interpret the persistence of this linkage as strong evidence of "a possible causal linkage."    Further statistical analysis clarifies the direction of causation, with the data indicating that "abortion leads to increased risk of mental health problems."  The data do not support the view that "mental health problems lead to increased risk of abortion."

The Christchurch scholars acknowledge that their findings are "inconsistent" with a statement published by the American Psychological Association (APA) assuring Americans that "risk of psychological harm is low" for women who undergo abortions.  However, the Christchurch scholars complain that the APA's "relatively strong conclusion about the absence of harm from abortion was based on a relatively small number of studies which had one or more . . . [methodological] limitations."  Underscoring their skepticism with regard to the APA's assurances, the Christchurch scholars find it "difficult to disregard the real possibility that abortion amongst young women is associated with increased risk of mental health problems."