Wellington, Nov 4 NZPA - Pro-choice and anti-abortion groups are taking different slants on the results of a New Zealand into abortion and mental health.

The study, led by Otago University's Professor David Fergusson, has been reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

A new study on abortion and mental health contains good news for supporters of safe and accessible abortion, but some of its conclusions overreach the data, the president of the Abortion Law Reform Association, Dame Margaret Sparrow, said today.

16 June 2009 - "The annual abortion figures just issued by Statistics New Zealand show a levelling off in abortion numbers since the peak in 2003 although the reasons for this are not fully understood" Dr. Margaret Sparrow, the president of the Abortion Law Reform Association said today.