David C. Reardon is an American electrical engineer and
anti-abortion activist. He is the founder of the Elliot Institute, an anti-abortion advocacy group,
and the author of a number of articles and books on
abortion and mental health
Scientific and medical expert bodies have repeatedly concluded that abortion poses no greater mental health risks than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term. Nevertheless, the relationship between induced abortion and mental health is an area o ...
. Reardon was described in the ''
New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'' as the "Moses" of the "post-abortion movement".
[Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?](_blank)
by Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon (born March 4, 1971) is an American journalist. She is a staff writer for ''The New York Times Magazine,'' a senior research fellow at Yale Law School, and co-host of the ''Slate'' podcast ''Political Gabfest''. She is a former sen ...
. Published in the ''New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'' on January 21, 2007; accessed November 27, 2007.
Biography
A graduate of the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...
department of
electrical engineering,
Reardon began researching the effects of abortion in the mid-1980s. Reardon subsequently received a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in
biomedical ethics from
Pacific Western University (Hawaii)
Pacific Western University (Hawaii) was an unaccredited university closed in May 2006 following a lawsuit filed by the State of Hawaii a year earlier.
History
Pacific Western University (Hawaii), Inc., also called American PacWest Internation ...
, an
unaccredited correspondence school.
[Politicized Science: How Anti-Abortion Myths Feed the Christian Right Agenda](_blank)
by Pam Chamberlain. Published in ''The Public Eye'' by Political Research Associates
Political Research Associates (PRA), formerly Midwest Research, Chicago (1981–87) is a non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Mission
PRA studies the U.S. political right wing, as well as white supremacists, and p ...
, Summer 2006. Accessed February 17, 2008.[Mooney, Chris. (October 1, 2004)]
"Research and Destroy"
. ''Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alter ...
.'' Retrieved February 11, 2007.[PBS NOW transcript](_blank)
show #329, aired on PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...
on July 20, 2007; accessed November 27, 2007. In the transcript, PBS senior correspondent Maria Hinojosa describes Reardon: "With a PhD from an unaccredited online institution, he's turned out dozens of studies that supposedly prove abortion is dangerous to women's mental health."
Reardon describes his position on abortion as both "
pro-life
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of ...
" (believing a human fetus is deserving of protection) and "pro-woman" and "anti-abortion" (believing abortion hurts women). In a 2002 article in ''Ethics & Medicine'', Reardon argued that in order to be effective, anti-abortion efforts had to present "a moral vision that consistently demonstrates just as much concern for women as for their unborn children."
[ Full text in pd]
here
/ref> Reardon appealed to the anti-abortion movement to support his "pro-woman/pro-life" strategy writing:
For the purpose of passing restrictive laws to protect women from unwanted and/or dangerous abortions, it does not matter if people have a pro-life view. The ambivalent majority of people who are willing to tolerate abortion in "some cases" are very likely to support informed consent legislation and abortion clinic regulations, for example, because these proposals are consistent with their desire to protect women. In some cases, it is not even necessary to convince people of abortion's dangers. It is sufficient to simply raise enough doubts about abortion that they will refuse to actively oppose the proposed anti-abortion initiative. In other words, if we can convince many of those who do not see abortion to be a "serious moral evil" that they should support anti-abortion policies that protect women and reduce abortion rates, that is a sufficiently good end to justify NRS efforts. Converting these people to a pro-life view, where they respect life rather than simply fear abortion, is a second step. The latter is another good goal, but it is not necessary to the accomplishment of other good goals, such as the passage of laws that protect women from dangerous abortions and thereby dramatically reduce abortion rates.
Reardon's findings conflict with the view of the American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has ...
, as well as other scientists and researchers, that abortion carries no greater mental-health risk than carrying an unwanted fetus to term.
Media coverage
In a ''Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alter ...
'' article titled "Research and Destroy", author Chris Mooney profiled Reardon as an example of what he describes as "Christian conservatives hohave gone a long way towards creating their own scientific counter-establishment."[ He also notes that Reardon's findings conflict with those of the ]American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has ...
, which in 1990 had rejected "the notion that abortion regularly causes severe or clinical mental problems", and with the conclusions of former United States Surgeon General
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...
C. Everett Koop.[
In a front-page story for the '']New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'', ''Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' editor Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon (born March 4, 1971) is an American journalist. She is a staff writer for ''The New York Times Magazine,'' a senior research fellow at Yale Law School, and co-host of the ''Slate'' podcast ''Political Gabfest''. She is a former sen ...
described the growth of post-abortion counseling ministries around the United States as part of an effort by the anti-abortion movement to outlaw abortion by stressing its purported psychological effects. She describes Reardon as arguing that the anti-abortion movement will "never win over a majority... by asserting the sanctity of fetal life", and therefore should focus on disseminating information that abortion is psychologically harmful to women as a more effective strategy.
Bazelon goes on to say:
For anti-abortion activists, this strategy offers distinct advantages. It challenges the connection between access to abortion and women's rights — if women are suffering because of their abortions, then how could making the procedure readily available leave women better off? It replaces mute pictures of dead fetuses with the voices of women who narrate their stories in raw detail and who claim they can move legislators to tears. And it trades condemnation for pity and forgiveness. "Pro-lifers who say, 'I don't understand how anyone could have an abortion,' are blind to how hurtful this statement can be," Reardon writes on his Web site. "A more humble pro-life attitude would be to say, 'Who am I to throw stones at others?'
When researchers attack his findings, Reardon writes to the journals' letters pages. "Even if pro-abortionists got five paragraphs explaining that abortion is safe and we got only one line saying it's dangerous, the seed of doubt is planted," he wrote in his book.
Reardon has been described in the ''Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' as someone who "wants Congress to impose strict barriers to abortion." The ''Boston Globe'' also wrote:
This dual role of advocate/researcher is becoming more common, especially as advocacy groups realize they can sway more opinions by asserting that their research is based on science, rather than simply on personal belief. avid/nowiki> Reardon, like many people who play this dual role, insists he can objectively look at the data without being influenced by his personal viewpoint.[Science in support of a cause: the new research](_blank)
by Michael Kranish. Published in the ''Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' on July 31, 2005; accessed November 27, 2007.
According to the website of the Elliot Institute, which Reardon founded, he is "a frequent guest on Christian radio and Christian television talk shows and has been a frequently invited speaker state and national conventions for crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations." Reardon addressed the National Pro-Life Religious Council in 1998, where he discussed emotional reactions to abortion in the context of the disputed entity of "post-abortion syndrome
Scientific and medical expert bodies have repeatedly concluded that abortion poses no greater mental health risks than carrying an unintended pregnancy to term. Nevertheless, the relationship between induced abortion and mental health is an area o ...
".
Elliot Institute
Reardon is the founder and director of the Elliot Institute, which in 2005 reported that it had two full-time and one part-time employees. According to its web site, the Elliot Institute studies "the effects of eugenics, abortion, population control, and sexual attitudes and practices on individuals and society at large." The institute was described by ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...
'' as an "anti-abortion organization focusing on the physical and psychological effects of abortion."[No Abortion-Breast Cancer Link](_blank)
by Rita Rubin. Published in ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...
'' on February 26, 2003; accessed March 6, 2008.
The Elliot Institute has endorsed model legislation regarding informed consent
Informed consent is a principle in medical ethics and medical law, that a patient must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about their medical care. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatm ...
provisions for women considering abortion and bills that would increase the liability of physicians who provide abortions that are deemed "unsafe or unnecessary". The Elliot Institute is also leading an effort to build a coalition of groups to advocate for laws that would create a preemptive ban on human genetic engineering
Human genetic enhancement or human genetic engineering refers to human enhancement by means of a genetic modification. This could be done in order to cure diseases (gene therapy), prevent the possibility of getting a particular disease (similar ...
.
Reardon and the Elliot Institute opposed The Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, and proposed a competing initiative which would have prohibited any embryonic stem cell research which resulted in the destruction of a human embryo, as well as some other types of genetic research, in Missouri. The Elliot institute created a website which mimicked the site of a pro-stem-cell-research group, the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. The group sued the Elliot Institute in federal court for alleged copyright and trademark violations. Consequently, the Elliot Institute website was ordered temporarily shut down by a federal judge.Court Shuts Down Anti-Stem-Cell Web Site for Copyright Violations
by Donna Higgins. From news.findlaw.com, originally published March 27, 2006. Accessed January 7, 2008.
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
See also
* Christianity and abortion
* Priscilla K. Coleman
References
External links
PubMed list of Reardon-authored studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reardon, David
American anti-abortion activists
American psychology writers
American male non-fiction writers
American medical researchers
University of Illinois alumni
American health activists
People from Springfield, Illinois
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people