No link between abortion and mental health problems WSJ says, and tales of Rove

Since the Bush Administration's recent rewriting of definitions of birth control (Did you know that according to them, taking birth control pills is having an abortion?) is pretty scarey, I thought it would be useful to shed some light on a story the WSJ printed this morning, albeit buried on page D6. Hey, at least they printed it. Stephanie Simon's article is titled Study Fails to Find Link on Abortion, Mental Health [Aside: I love how these titles telegraph the agenda: We were looking for a link, dang, fishing everywhere, but just couldn't make the connection! aw shucks.]

Women's psychological reaction to the procedure has become a key issue in the abortion debate, with some judges and lawmakers citing mental-health concerns as reason to impose restrictions on abortion.

Now the article goes to great lengths (4 paragraphs out of 9) to say that the study didn't address either teenagers or women with multiple abortions; dismissed other reports; and was rejected by some researchers. Still, the WSJ finally, after all the dithering, had to acknowledge:

The report was endorsed, however, by the American Psychological Association's 174-member governing body -- and that endorsement carried with it a vote of confidence that the work was scientifically rigorous, said Kim Mills, a spokeswoman for the group.

In unrelated news, on the Opinion Editorial pages, Karl Rove dissects the Presidential campaign microtargeting strategies in his succinctly titled I See Four Key Battleground States. In his editorial, Rove names Colorado, Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio as the big four, but adds Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Hampshire, Missouri and Wisconsin. That's ten states worth watching between now and November. So watch the voter registration cards; watch the decisions about how many voting machines will be "doled out" to each precinct; watch the provisional ballots; keep an eye on who is handling the software for the electronic vote tallies; watch, watch, watch. Aren't worried yet? Rove closes with this:

If Mr. McCain carries Michigan as well as Ohio, it would make Mr. Obama's Electoral College math very difficult. And if Mr. McCain can limit GOP losses to one or two small states from those won by the GOP in 2004, he'll be America's 44th president.