Research on the links between abortion and mental health
By Dr Stephen Sammut B.Pharm PhD.
As a neuroscientist who has a great interest in understanding human behaviour, I have always understood the necessity for evidence-based-practice.
However, for several decades now, arguments have gone backwards and forwards as to whether induced abortion (termination of pregnancy) has any negative effects. In all of this, one aspect of scientific evidence has been missing – pre-clinical data.
Pre-clinical research – what is it?
As scientists, we are not given a free-for-all capacity to do what we wish. There are rules and ethics that we must observe, no matter what the research is, and no matter who our subjects are.
Experiments and research on humans, and especially experiments on vulnerable populations including pregnant women, fetuses and children are highly restricted. In fact, some things cannot be tested on humans at all.
Pre-clinical research, refers to the research that takes place before (pre) research on humans (clinical). This allows us to understand what may be happening in a disease, or how a drug works.
These investigations often use animals with the same condition that we want to research in humans, for example pregnancy in rats. We give animals a treatment to see how they react.
We can do this because of the similarity between animals and humans in the way they function. Of course, this must be conducted humanely. Poor care of animals leads to useless results. We owe respect to the animals used in research, given the millions of lives that have been saved as a result.
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