Research Issues

AFTER THE CHOICE

The Effects of Abortion on Women

 

Part I Physical Complications

Part II Psychological Problems

Part III Why Isn't the Pulic Being Told?

See also http://www.nrlc.org/Factsheets/index.html

and http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com

New Study Shows Direct Link Between Abortion and Mental Health Problems

 

The following information is based on research provided by the Elliot Institute, unless other wise noted.

Founded in 1988, the Elliot Institute is a national non-profit organization dedicated to research, education and outreach regarding the effects of abortion on women, men, families and society. Additional information can be obtained from:

                        Elliot Institute

                        P.O. Box 7348

                        Springfield, IL 62781 or          

                        www.afterabortion.org

Physical Complications

 Immediate Complications

infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, damage to the uterus, anesthesia complications,

convulsion, hemorrhage, cervical injury, endotoxic shock

 

• About 1.3 million abortions take place annually in the United States

• About 10% of women undergoing elective abortions will suffer immediate complications (130,000)

• 1/5 of these, 2% of the total abortions, are life-threatening (2600)

• Legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death in the United States (1985); the leading causes of maternal death within one week were hemorrhage, infection, embolism, anesthesia, and undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy; the potential for underreporting was noted at that time

• International experts (National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health in Finland, 2004) publish a new study disclosing that 94% of maternal deaths associated with abortion are not identifiable from death certificates alone; the death rate associated with abortion is three times higher than childbirth

Breast Cancer

• The risk of breast cancer doubles after one abortion, and rises further after two or more abortions (1981,1989,1990)

• The Daling Study (1994) of women who had at least one induced abortion found

  Induced abortion raised a woman’s chance of breast cancer before age 45 by 50%

  If done before the age of 18, the increase is 150%

  If after age 30, the increase is 110%

  All 12 women in the study with a family history of breast cancer, who aborted before age 18, developed breast cancer before age 45

-- Journal of the Nat. Cancer Inst., Nov. 1994

 

• Statistical trends for eight countries, England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland and Denmark (2007) using national cancer registration data and comprehensive data on abortion show

  Seven reproductive risk factors were considered as variables:

Induced abortion of first pregnancy

Low age at first birth

Childlessness

Large number of children

Breastfeeding

Hormonal contraception

Hormone replacement therapy

Conclusions:

Induced abortion was found to be the best predictor of breast cancer

The increase in breast cancer incidence appears to be best explained by an increase in abortion rate

 -- Journal of Am. Physicians and Surgeons, Fall 2007

 

 Other Cancers

• Cervical cancer – the risk is elevated 2.3 times for the first abortion, 4.92 times for two or more

• Similar increases have been observed for ovarian and liver cancer

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

• PID is potentially life-threatening, can lead to increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and reduced fertility

• 20-27% of women seeking abortion have a Chlamydia infection 

• 23% of women who have an infection at the time of the abortion will develop PID within 4 weeks   

• 5% of non-infected women will develop PID

Other Complications

• Uterine perforation, 2-3% of all women who abort (26,000)

• Cervical laceration, 1% of all women who abort  (13,000)

• Both of these injuries can result in complications for future pregnancies

  • Placenta previa

  • Labor complications

  • Handicapped newborns

  • Ectopic pregnancy

  • Premature delivery

Massive German Study Confirms Abortion Significantly Increases Premature Birth Risk

By Kathleen Gilbert

February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A huge German study has further substantiated the link between abortion history and an increased risk of future premature births.

Dr. Manfred Voigt and his German colleagues evaluated over two million pregnancies between 1995 and 2000, making the 2008 study the most massive AVP (Abortion Very Preterm Birth) study in the last 30 years.  (To view the abstract, go to: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18293256)

The control group of women in the study had no history of induced abortion, miscarriage or stillbirths.  The rate of premature births in the control group was compared to that of three separate groups: women with abortions in their medical history (but no miscarriages or stillbirths), women with only miscarriages in their history, and women with only stillbirths in their history.

According to a press release by the Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition, the study found that for a woman with one prior abortion, VPB (under 32-34 weeks' gestation) risk is boosted by 30%, while more than one prior abortion increases relative VPB risk by 90%. 

The study's data about women's prior abortion history was extracted from a perinatal data-base, and not via interviews conducted for the purpose of the study.  Thus the Voigt team avoided the possibility of skewed results due to women falsifying their abortion history, a factor critics of the abortion-premature birth link have questioned in the past.

Preterm birth raises a child's risk for cerebral palsy, mental retardation, epilepsy, visual impairment, hearing disability, gastrointestinal injury, respiratory distress, and severe infections.  Those born under 28 week's gestation have 129 times the risk of cerebral palsy as a full-term newborn, according to 2008 study by Dr. Eveline Himpens et al.

The German study joins a solid body of evidence showing the increased risk of preterm births for children who are brought to term after a previous abortion. 

In the Winter 2008 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Brent Rooney (MSc), Dr. Byron Calhoun, and lawyer Lisa Roche revealed that black American women, who abort nearly one out of every two children, are at three times higher risk for giving birth prematurely, and four times higher risk for giving birth extremely prematurely. 

The article also suggested that "suction" abortions violate the 1947 Nuremberg Code, since there are no published trials of the procedure that validate its safety. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08120211.html)

Brent Rooney of the Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition urged U.S. President Obama to suspend government funding of abortion in light of strong evidence for the procedure's dangerous effects on women and children.

"Famous economist John Maynard Keynes said it best, 'When the facts change, I change my mind.  What do you do, sir?'" said Rooney.

See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

Abortion Linked to Disproportionately High Rate of Black Premature Births
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08120211.html

Abortion Triples Chances of Future Low Birth weight Babies New Study Confirms
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07121803.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021111.html

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Psychological Problems

Within 8 weeks of having an abortion:

• 44% of women complained of nervous disorders

• 36% reported sleep disturbances

• 31% expressed regret

• 11% were prescribed psychotropic drugs

After five years, in a Canadian study, 25% of women who had had an abortion visited a psychiatrist, compared to 3% in a control group.

 

Suicide

Researchers in Finland have found a strong statistical association between abortion and suicide in a records based study (1996)

• Suicide rate for all women:                        11.3 per 100 000

• Suicide rate for women who gave birth:      5.9 per 100 000                                                      

• Suicide rate for women who have a miscarriage: 18.1 per 100 000                            

• Suicide rate for women who had an abortion:      34.7 per 100 000

                                           

Other Behavioral Problems

• Women who abort are twice as likely to become heavy smokers

• There is also a twofold increase in alcohol abuse

• There are significant increases in drug abuse, eating disorders, child abuse/neglect,

• There is also an increased risk of divorce, separation, chronic relationship problems and sexual dysfunction

 

Some Recent Research

Data from a federally funded longitudinal study of adolescents from the U.S. was published in 2006. Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a research psychologist at Bowling Green State University, analyzed the data with respect to abortion

Results

• Adolescent girls who aborted unintended pregnancies were 5 times more likely to seek subsequent help for psychological and emotional problems compared to their peers who carry “unwanted pregnancies” to term

• They were 3 times more likely to report trouble sleeping; they were 9 times more likely to report marijuana use

• The results were compiled after examining 17 other control variables, like prior mental health history and family factors

• Dr. Coleman pointed out that, while having a child as a teen may be problematic, “the risks of terminating seem to be even more pronounced.

Other Research on Young Women

• Prof. David Fergusson’s team tracked 500 women from birth to 25 years of age (2006)

• Women who became pregnant in his study before age 25 were more likely to have experienced family dysfunction and adjustment problems, left home at an early age and be in a cohabiting relationship

• But the findings showed that women who had abortions were still more likely to experience mental health problems

• Results:

       Young women who had abortions experienced elevated rates of suicidal behaviors, depression, substance abuse, anxiety and other mental health problems

 

Great Britain, 2008

Although the Royal College of Psychiatrists states that the issue of harmful effects of abortion on women’s mental health remains to be fully resolved, it states:

“The Royal College of Psychiatrists recognises that good practice in relation to abortion will require informed consent…This may require the updating of patient information leaflets… and training to relevant health care professionals…”

Why Isn't the Public Being Told?

With Respect to the study by David Ferguson:

• New Zealand’s Abortion Supervisory Committee declined to publish the results

• Fergusson’s team had to go to four journals before finding a publisher, when they usually get published the “first time.” -- (NRLC)

  •   According to Fergusson, “Journals we would normally have expected to publish them just declined the paper, and I think it’s because the debate is so very hot, and I think this is particularly so in the U.S., and it is notable that our paper was published in a British journal.”

  • Fergusson took issue with the assurances of abortion’s safety by the American Psychological Association on their Web site

  • His team noted that the APA’s position paper ignored many key studies showing evidence of abortion’s harm and only looked at selective samples with methodological flaws

  • The APA has currently removed the page with their statement of safety from the Web site

Other Authors

• Dr. Priscilla Coleman has noted similar struggles publishing findings showing adverse mental health consequences associated with abortion.“We have had a much easier time publishing in British and other European journals.”

• Dr. Janet Daling: “I’m absolutely appalled that politics is entering into the science of this study.  No one is getting any of the correct information out to the public.”           -- Time, 1994 

Is History Repeating Itself?

 Angela Lanfranchi, M.D. answered this question in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Spring , 2008

SMOKING / LUNG CANCER

• Study linking smoking to lung cancer, 1928

• Lung cancer increased to epidemic proportions after WWII

• NCI claims uncertainty, calls for more study

• Senators from tobacco states influence NCI

 

ABORTION / BREAST CANCER

• Studies linking abortion to breast cancer, 1980’s, 1990’s

• Incidence of breast cancer continues to rise

• NCI continues to claim no “consensus” on link between abortion and breast cancer

• Senators from states with the highest abortion rates are adamantly pro-abortion

• U.S. Surgeon General put out the report on cigarettes and lung cancer in 1964

• He was supported by the Bradford Hill epidemiological criteria for causality

• Daling, Brind and others publish studies showing the link between abortion and breast cancer (1990's)

• Epidemiological studies showing the abortion / breast cancer link satisfy the criteria for causality 

• “The unwillingness of scientists to speak out against the shoddy research being advanced by those who deny the abortion / breast cancer link is a very serious breach.  The lives and health of millions of women are put at risk.”      -- Dr. Edward Furton, Ethics and Medics, 2004 (cited in Dr. Lanfranchi's article)