Guttmacher Policy Review
Summer 2006, Volume 9, Number 3
Abortion and Mental Health: Myths and
Realities
By Susan A. Cohen
Most antiabortion activists oppose abortion for moral and religious reasons. In their effort to win
broader public support and legitimacy, however, antiabortion leaders frequently assert that abortion is
not only wrong, but that it harms women physically and psychologically. Such charges have been made
repeatedly for years, but repetition and even acceptance by members of Congress and other highranking political officials do not make them true.
Likely because the science attesting to the physical safety of the abortion procedure is so clear, abortion
foes have long focused on what they allege are its negative mental health consequences. For decades,
they have charged that having an abortion causes mental instability and even may lead to suicide, and
despite consistent repudiations from the major professional mental health associations, they remain
undeterred. For example, the "postabortion traumatic stress syndrome" that they say is widespread is
not recognized by either the American Psychological Association (APA) or the American Psychiatric
Association.
To a considerable degree, antiabortion activists are able to take advantage of the fact that the general
public and most policymakers do not know what constitutes "good science" (related article, November
2005, page 1). To defend their positions, these activists often cite studies that have serious
methodological flaws or draw inappropriate conclusions from more rigorous studies. Admittedly, the
body of sound research in this area is relatively sparse because establishing or conclusively disproving
a causal relationship between abortion and subsequent behavior is an extremely difficult proposition.
Still, it is fair to say that neither the weight of the scientific evidence to date nor the observable reality
of 33 years of legal abortion in the United States comports with the idea that having an abortion is any
more dangerous to a woman's long-term mental health than delivering and parenting a child that she
did not intend to have or placing a baby for adoption.
Public Health Problem 'Minuscule'
Despite years of trying, antiabortion activists failed to gain any traction with the nation's major medical
groups in alleging that abortion posed a direct threat to women's health, especially their mental health,
so they turned to the political process to legitimize their claims. In 1987, they convinced President
Reagan to direct U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to analyze the health effects of abortion and
submit a report to the president. As Koop had been appointed to his position in no small part because of
his antiabortion views, both prochoice and antiabortion factions believed the outcome to be
preordained. (An eminent pediatric surgeon as well as an outspoken abortion foe, Koop had no prior
experience or background in public health; both public health and prochoice advocates in Congress
vehemently opposed his appointment, delaying his confirmation by several months.)
Koop reviewed the scientific and medical literature and consulted with a wide range of experts and
advocacy groups on both sides of the issue. Yet, after 15 months, no report was forthcoming. Rather,
on January 9, 1989, Koop wrote a letter to the president explaining that he would not be issuing a
report at all because "the scientific studies do not provide conclusive data about the health effects of
abortion on women." Koop apparently was referring to the effects of abortion on mental health,
because his letter essentially dismissed any doubts about the physical safety of the procedure.
Prochoice members of Congress, surprised by Koop's careful and balanced analysis, sought to force his
more detailed findings into the public domain. A hearing before the House Government Operations
Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations was called in March 1989 to give
Koop an opportunity to testify about the content of his draft report, which had begun to leak out despite
the administration's best efforts. At the hearing, Koop explained that he chose not to pursue an inquiry
into the safety of the abortion procedure itself, because the "obstetricians and gynecologists had long
since concluded that the physical sequelae of abortion were no different than those found in women
who carried pregnancy to term or who had never been pregnant. I had nothing further to add to that
subject in my letter to the president"(see box).
As to the mental health issue, Koop described anecdotal evidence going in both directions, but
emphasized that "individual cases cannot be used to reach scientifically sound conclusions." He
discussed the methodological flaws pervading most of the research on this subject, and for this reason,
he explained, he could reach no definitive conclusion about the mental health impact of having an
abortion. Importantly, however, Koop did state that it was clear to him that the psychological effects of
abortion are "minuscule" from a public health perspective.
Given the millions of women who have had abortions, "if severe reaction were common, there would
be an epidemic of women seeking treatment."
Representing the APA at the hearing, Nancy Adler, professor of psychology at the University of
California, San Francisco, testified that "severe negative reactions are rare and are in line with those
following other normal life stresses." While acknowledging that there were flaws in much of the
research, she testified nonetheless that the weight of the evidence persuasively showed that "abortion is
usually psychologically benign." Echoing Koop's point about the public health implications, Adler said
that given the millions of women who had had abortions, "if severe reaction were common, there
would be an epidemic of women seeking treatment. There is no evidence of such an epidemic."
More Studies, Similar Conclusions
Later in 1989, the APA itself convened a panel to comprehensively assess the body of research meeting
the minimum criteria for scientific validity. The APA review determined that legal abortion of an
unwanted pregnancy "does not pose a psychological hazard for most women." As summarized in the
Guttmacher Institute's May 2006 report, Abortion in Women's Lives, the APA found that "women who
are terminating pregnancies that are wanted or who lack support from their partner or parents for the
abortion may feel a greater sense of loss, anxiety and distress. For most women, however, the time of
greatest distress is likely to be before an abortion; after an abortion, women frequently report feeling
'relief and happiness.'"
Yet neither the Koop investigation nor the APA review ended the debate. Antiabortion researchers
have persisted in trying to prove abortion's harmful mental health effects. Most prominent among them
are David Reardon, director of the antiabortion, Illinois-based Elliot Institute, and Priscilla Coleman,
family studies professor at Bowling Green State University. Reardon and Coleman believe that
abortion harms women, but their own studies and the others upon which they rely to make that
assertion are so flawed methodologically that they cannot be said to establish a causal relationship. The
studies do not address the fundamental question of whether women who have had abortions experience
more adverse reactions than do otherwise similar women who have carried their unwanted pregnancies
to term. Again, as described in Abortion in Women's Lives, "none adequately control for factors that
might explain both the unintended pregnancy and the mental health problem, such as social or
demographic characteristics, preexisting mental or physical health conditions, childhood exposure to
physical or sexual abuse, and other risk-taking behaviors.…Because of these confounding factors, even
if mental health problems are more common among women who have had an abortion, abortion may
not have been the real cause."
By contrast, the Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and of General Practitioners in the
United Kingdom sponsored a major study that did address that fundamental question. The study
followed more than 13,000 women in England and Wales over an 11-year period ending in the early
1990s. Importantly, it considered two groups: women facing an unintended pregnancy who had an
abortion and women facing an unintended pregnancy who gave birth. The study's authors concluded
that those women who had an abortion following an unintended pregnancy were not at any higher risk
of subsequent mental health problems than were women whose unintended pregnancy was carried to
term.
Currently, considerable attention is being paid to a study conducted by David Fergusson, a psychology
professor who is affiliated with the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, New
Zealand. Fergusson's study, like the Royal Colleges', has the advantage of being prospective, which
means that information is gathered about individual women at multiple points in time and compared
across groups. Fergusson and his colleagues have been following the health, education and life progress
of a group of 1,265 children in the Christchurch region since their births in mid-1977. Results released
earlier this year suggest some link between abortion as a young woman in New Zealand and subsequent
problems with depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors and substance abuse disorders; however,
Ferguson acknowledges that his study has enough shortcomings to warrant caution in reading too much
into the findings.
Specifically, the study does not take into account certain preexisting health problems (e.g., mental
health problems or exposure to unreported sexual abuse) among the women who had an abortion that
may be much more relevant to the women's subsequent mental health conditions than the abortion
itself. Furthermore, he and his coauthors estimate that about one-fifth of the women in the study who
had abortions failed to report them, which could skew the findings if women experiencing mental
health problems later in life are more likely to report a prior abortion than are women not experiencing
such problems. Perhaps most significantly, Ferguson and his colleagues did not separate out for
analysis purposes women whose pregnancies were unintended and women whose pregnancies were
wanted, as did the Royal Colleges' researchers. The authors themselves admit that this is a significant
failing.
The Debate Goes On
Seventeen years after the Koop investigation, there is still no conclusive evidence directly linking
abortion to subsequent mental health problems—and not because of a lack of trying. Although it is true
that some women who have had an abortion suffer severe mental health problems later in life, the
current body of research has not been able to rule out a plethora of preexisting conditions or familial or
other contextual factors that could affect or explain those problems. It isalso true, not surprisingly, that
some women experience pain and sadness either shortly after having an abortion or even many years
later (see box). These emotions, however, are not unique to women who have had an abortion or
necessarily more or less common than the pain and sadness felt by many women who have placed a
baby for adoption or raised an unplanned child under adverse conditions.
Meanwhile, what Koop described 17 years ago as a “minuscule” public health problem would seem to
be at least as miniscule today—especially in light of the fact that more than one in three women in the
United States will have had an abortion by age 45. How much more research into the purported
abortion–mental health connection is really warranted may depend more on political exigencies than on
scientific ones. Antiabortion activists can be expected to continue to either distort the evidence that
does exist or insist that conclusive evidence can still be found. At the time of his investigation, Koop
himself called for more and better quality research on the mental health effects of not just abortion but
unplanned pregnancy itself, a more expansive view that remains valid today. Also applicable today is
Koop’s less noticed but equally important call at that time for more research into contraception and
contraceptive use. As he testified to Congress in 1989, “most abortions would not take place if
pregnancies were not unplanned and unwanted.”
Abortion Is Safe and No Impediment to Future Fertility
Despite the strong and lengthy history of evidence attesting to the physical safety of abortion,
antiabortion activists frequently charge that the procedure threatens women’s future fertility and is a
particular risk factor for breast cancer. Neither is true. Abortion foes cite research that suggests that
abortion can cause infection or injury, sometimes undetectable at the time of the abortion, which in turn
increases women’s risk of preterm and low-birth-weight delivery. Those studies, however, typically fail
to account for the fact that factors such as a history of sexually transmitted infection may be more
common among women who have unintended pregnancies (and thus abortions) and may lead to
premature delivery among women giving birth. The preponderance of evidence from well-designed and
well-executed studies shows no connection between abortion and future fertility problems. Several
reviews of the research conclude that first-trimester abortions pose virtually no long-term fertility
risks—not only for premature and low-birth-weight delivery but for infertility, ectopic pregnancy,
miscarriage and birth defects as well. The evidence is less extensive when it comes to repeat abortion
and second-trimester abortion, but the research indicates that the claims of abortion opponents are
unfounded.
As for the link between abortion and breast cancer, researchers have studied for years whether the
abrupt hormonal changes caused by interrupting a pregnancy alter a woman’s breast in a way that
increases her susceptibility to the disease. Until the mid-1990s, the research findings were inconsistent.
Abortion opponents seized upon a 1996 analysis that combined the results of numerous flawed studies
and concluded that having an abortion did elevate the risk of cancer. However, data from this analysis
were unreliable, because they were collected only after a diagnosis of cancer. Furthermore, rather than
relying on medical records, the researchers asked the women themselves whether or not they had had
an abortion, a process that would be expected to lead to more complete reporting of a prior abortion by
women with cancer than by women who did not have cancer.
In 2003, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) convened more than 100 of the world’s leading experts on
the topic of abortion and breast cancer. After a lengthy and exhaustive review of all of the research,
including a number of newer studies that avoided the flaws of their predecessors, they concluded that
“induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk,” noting that the evidence for
such a conclusion met NCI’s highest standard. In 2004, an expert panel convened by the British
government came to the same conclusion.
Helping Women Cope After Having an Abortion
To be sure, it is not unusual for a woman to experience a range of often contradictory emotions after
having an abortion, just as it would not be unusual for a woman who carried her unintended pregnancy
to term. It was not until recently, however, that a specialized organization was formed with the purpose
to provide postabortion counseling in a nonjudgmental context. Founded in 2000 in Oakland,
California, Exhale operates a national telephone hotline by which trained, volunteer peer counselors
help women who have had abortions, as well as their partners and families, talk through their feelings,
immediately after an abortion or even years later.
Exhale “believe[s] there is no ‘right’ way to feel after an abortion. We also know that feelings of
happiness, sadness, empowerment, anxiety, grief, relief or guilt are common.” Executive Director
Aspen Baker suggests that giving women an outlet for discussing their feelings—whatever they may
be—is a healthy part of the process toward emotional well-being. Baker has observed that a woman’s
negative emotions after an abortion may be due, at least in part, to the reaction of her partner or to those
of family members, who might condemn or exclude her for having an abortion or for becoming
pregnant to begin with. Exhale is helping to remove the stigma surrounding having an abortion, so that
women and their support networks are better equipped to cope with their feelings—an essential part of
the process that until recently may not have received as much attention as it deserves.
Abortion information you can use.....
Effects on Women's Biological Health - Immediate
Complications You can have With your abortion A complete list and description of
physical complications of abortion
Complications
You can have
With your abortion.
Bladder Injury
If your uterus is perforated, your urinary bladder can be perforated, too. This can also
cause peritonitis (an inflamed, infected lining of the abdomen) with all of its pain, dangers
and necessary reparative surgery.
Bowel Injury
If your uterus is perforated, your intestines can be perforated, too. This will cause nausea,
vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, blood in stool, peritonitis (an inflamed, infected lining of
the abdomen) and death if not treated quickly enough. A portion of the intestine may have
to be taken out, and a temporary or permanent colostomy may be put in your abdomen.
Breast Cancer
Women who have aborted have significantly higher rates of breast cancer later in life.
Breast cancer has risen by 50% in America since abortion became legal in 1973.
Ectopic (Tubal) Pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy is any pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus. After an abortion,
you are 8 to 20 times more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy. If not discovered soon
enough, an ectopic pregnancy ruptures, and you can bleed to death if you do not have
emergency surgery. Statistics show a 30% increased risk of ectopic pregnancy after one
abortion and a 160% increased risk of ectopic pregnancy after two or more abortions.
There has been a threefold increase in ectopic pregnancies in the U.S. since abortion was
legalized. In 1970, the incidence was 4.8 per 1,000 live births. By 1980 it was 14.5 per
1,000 births.
Effects on Future Pregnancies
If you have an abortion:
(1) You will be more likely to bleed in the first three months of future pregnancies.
(2) You will be less likely to have a normal delivery in future pregnancies.
(3) You will need more manual removal of placenta more often and there will be
more complications with expelling the baby and its placenta.
(4) Your next baby will be twice as likely to die in the first few months of life.
(5) Your next baby will be three to four times as likely to die in the last months of
his first year of life.
(6) Your next baby may have a low birth weight.
(7) Your next baby is more likely to be born prematurely with all the dangerous
and costly problems that entails.
Failed Abortion
Failure to successfully abort the unborn younger than 6 weeks is relatively common.
Sometimes, an abortionist fails to evacuate the placenta from the uterus. This means the
pregnancy continues even though mother has endured the dangers and cost of an abortion.
Hemorrhage
One to fourteen percent of women require a blood transfusion due to bleeding from an
abortion.
Hepatitis
This can occur if you have to have a blood transfusion after an abortion.
Infection
Mild fever and sometimes death occurs when there is an infection from an abortion. This
happens in anywhere from 1 in 4 women to 1 in 50 women.
Laceration of the Cervix
About 1 out of 20 women suffer this during an abortion. This causes you to have nearly a
50/50 chance of miscarrying in your next pregnancy if it is not treated properly during that
pregnancy. A high incidence of cervical damage from the abortion procedure has raised
the incidence of miscarriage 30-40% in women who have had abortions.
More Miscarriages Later
Women who have had two or more abortions have twice as many first trimester
miscarriages in later pregnancies. There is a ten-fold increase in the number of second
trimester miscarriages in pregnancies that follow a vaginal abortion.
Perforation of the Uterus
Women suffer a perforated uterus in between 1 out of 40 and 1 out of 400 abortions. This
almost always causes peritonitis (an inflamed, infected lining of the abdomen), similar to
having a ruptured appendix.
Placenta Previa
Placenta previa occurs 6 to 15 times more often after a woman has had an abortion. In this
condition your baby’s placenta lies over the exit from the uterus so that the placenta has to
be delivered before the baby can get out. This causes the mother to bleed severely while
the baby almost always dies, unless your obstetrician recognizes this condition and
removes the baby by Caesarean section at just the right time in the pregnancy.
Post-Abortion Syndrome
Frequently after an abortion, women suffer a range of mental and psychological problems.
These may include recurrent dreams of the abortion experience, avoidance of emotional
attachment, relationship problems, sleep disturbances, guilt about surviving, memory
impairment, hostile outbursts, suicidal thoughts or actions, depression, and substance
abuse. These problems may occur days to years later.
Retained Products of Conception
If your doctor leaves pieces of the baby, placenta, umbilical cord, or amniotic sac in your
body, you may develop pain, bleeding, or a low grade fever. Besides antibiotics and
possible hospitalization, you may require additional surgery to remove these remaining
pieces.
RH Incompatibility
Your doctor should be sure of your baby’s Rh blood type if you are Rh-negative, so that
he can protect you and your next baby against future Rh incompatibilities. These Rh
incompatibilities can:
. require that future babies will need transfusions soon after birth,
. cause future babies to be born dead because of the incompatibilities,
. cause future babies to die soon after birth because of the Rh incompatibility.
If your doctor doesn’t check the blood type of the baby you are going to abort,
even in very early suction abortions done before eight weeks, fetal-maternal
hemorrhage can occur, thereby sensitizing you if you are Rh-negative.
Severe, Rapid Bleeding
You may develop DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulopathy) from your abortion.
This means your blood does not clot and you will bleed uncontrollably. DIC is extremely
life threatening and difficult to treat. It occurs in 2 out of 1,000 second trimester abortions.
Sterility
After an abortion you may become sterile. This happens in 1 out of 20 to 1 out of 50
women. The risk of secondary infertility among women with at least one abortion is 3 to 4
times greater than that among women who have not aborted.
Unrecognized Ectopic Pregnancy
Your doctor may try to abort the baby but be unsuccessful because it is developing in your
fallopian tube. Unfortunately this tubal pregnancy ruptures later and emergency surgery
must be done to save your life. All women in their first trimester should have an
ultrasound to make sure they do not have an ectopic pregnancy.
Young Women
Complication rates of abortion increase with younger, teen-age women. However,
younger women who carry their babies to term have better births than older women if they
get proper care. There is evidence that in 15 to 17 year old women, pregnancy may even
be physically healthier than in women of older ages.
"In medical practice, there are few surgical procedures given so little attention and so
underrated in its potential hazards as abortion. It is a commonly held view that
complications are inevitable."
- Dr. Warren Hern, world renowned abortionist
Maternal Deaths and Long Term Complications: A complete collection of statistics,
quotes, and medical evidence.
WHY CAN'T WE LOVE THEM BOTH
by Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Willke
CHAPTER 21
MATERNAL DEATHS AND LONG TERM COMPLICATIONS
— ABORTION – CHILDBIRTH —
It is claimed by abortion proponents that abortion is safer than childbirth. They claim 1
death per 100,000 abortions compared to 10 deaths per100,000 deliveries . . . Not True
What is the maternal mortality from childbirth?
Reported average maternal mortality 1979 through 1986 was 9.1 per 100,000 deliveries,
having declined from 11 to 7.4. Morbidity & Mortality Report, July 1991, Cent. Dis.
Cont., Vol. 40, No. 55-1
If all causes of maternal death, other than those associated with live birth i.e., abortion,
tubal pregnancy, molar pregnancy, etc., were excluded. . . . "the maternal mortality for
1985 would be 4.7 deaths per 100,000 live births." "Induced Termination of Preg . . . ,"
Council on Scientific Affairs, AMA; JAMA, Dec. 9, ’92, Vol. 268, No. 22, p. 3231 147
And the rate has dropped further since the above, but the U.S. Center for Disease Control
(see Chapter 17) does not break down their figures. It continues to report a figure for
"maternal mortality" that includes abortion and other deaths.
But some mothers do die?
In developed nations, almost never. The National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, Ireland,
receives many complicated cases from around that nation and delivers 10% of all births in
Ireland. In 10 years (1970-79) it delivered 74,317 births at more than 28 weeks gestation
with only one woman dying from a cause related to her pregnancy. J. Murphy et al.,
Therapeutic Ab., The Medical Argument, Irish Med. J., Aug. ’82, Vol. 75, No. 8
Ed. note: And this report was from two decades ago. Since then medical care has
improved substantially.
Abortion Deaths
These have been grossly under-reported. The expose’ on this is detailed in Lime 5
published by Life Dynamics. The author and his staff have verified 23 deaths from
induced abortion in 1992-93. All were reported to state agencies. There is documentation
from state health departments that 18 were reported to the Federal Center for Disease
Control. However, the official report of the CDC listed only 2 deaths. "At Life Dynamics
we knew abortion complications were grotesquely under-reported, but attributed it to
garden-variety bureaucratic incompetence." But after continuing research, they
documented "that the flawed abortion data from the CDC was not from ineptitude but of
dishonesty and manipulation" after finding that "a large percentage of CDC employees
had direct ties to the abortion industry," they retitled the CDC to stand for "Center for
Damage Control" — "The CDC doesn’t oversee abortion, it justifies it." M. Crutcher,
Lime 5-Exploited by Choice, Genesis Pub., Chapter 4, "Cooking the Books," p. 135.
The claim that relevant statistics can be collected from the place where the abortion was
performed "is little short of science fiction."
"Complications following abortions performed in free-standing clinics is one of the most
frequent gynecologic emergencies . . . encountered. Even life-endangering complications
rarely come to the attention of the physician who performed the abortion unless the
incident entails litigation. The statistics presented by Cates represent substantial underreporting and disregard women’s reluctance to return to a clinic, where, in their mind,
they received inadequate treatment." L. Iffy, "Second Trimester Abortions," JAMA, vol.
249, no. 5, Feb. 4, 1983, p. 588.
What can cause her death?
The main causes are infection, hemorrhage and uterine perforation.
How often do women get infection as a consequence of induced abortion?
A study from one of the most prestigious medical centers in the world, John Hopkins
University, reported: "Occurrence of genital tract infection following elective abortion is a
well-known complication." This institution reports rates up to 5.2% for first trimester
abortions and up to 18.5% in midtrimester. Burkman et al., "Culture and Treatment
Results in Endometritis Following Elective Abortion," Amer. Jour. OB/GYN, vol. 128, no.
5, 1977, pp. 556-559.
For the local freestanding abortion facility in your community, with far inferior quality of
care, the number of such infections will be at least double that of such a medical center.
"One sequel to abortion can be a killer. This is pelvic abscess, almost always from a
perforation of the uterus and sometimes also of the bowel," said two professors from
UCLA, in reporting on four such cases. C. Gassner & C. Ballard, Amer. Jour. OB/GYN,
vol. 48, p. 716 as reported in Emerg. Med. After Abortion-Abscess, vol. 19, no. 4, Apr.
1977
In an underdeveloped country, complications are more frequent and treatment is usually
less available and effective.
Can infection cause damage?
Infection in the womb and tubes often does permanent damage. The Fallopian tube is a
fragile organ, a very tiny bore tube. If infection injures it, it often seals shut. The typical
infection involving these organs is pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
Patients with Chlamydia Trachomatous infection of the cervix (13% in this series) who
get induced abortion "run a 23% risk of developing PID." E. Quigstad et al., British Jour.
of Venereal Disease, June 1982, p. 182
"Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is difficult to manage and often leads to infertility,
even with prompt treatment . . . Approximately 10% of women will develop tubal
adhesions leading to infertility after one episode of PID, 30% after two episodes, and
more than 60% after three episodes." M. Spence, "PID: Detection & Treatment," Sexually
Transmitted Disease Bulletin, John Hopkins Univ., vol. 3, no. 1, Feb. 1983
"Acute inflammatory conditions occur in 5% of the cases, whereas permanent
complications such as chronic inflammatory conditions of the female organs, sterility, and
ectopic [tubal] pregnancies are registered in 20-30% of all women . . . these are definitely
higher in primigravidas [aborted for first pregnancy]."
Kodasek, "Artificial Termination of Pregnancy in Czechoslovakia," Internat’l Jour.
GYN/OB, vol. 9, no. 3, 1971 Venereal disease, usually Gonorrhea or Chlamydia, causes
PID. This, if present, vastly complicates an induced abortion. "Chlamydia trachomatous
was cultured from the cervix in 70 of 557 women admitted for therapeutic abortion.
Among the 70, 22 developed acute PID postoperatively (4% of the total)." E. Quigstad et
al., "PID Associated with C. Trachomatous Infection, A Prospective Study," British Jour.
of Venereal Disease, vol. 59, no. 3, 1982, pp. 189-192
Another study revealed a 17% incidence of post-abortal Chlamydia infection. Barbacci et
al., "Post Abortal Endometritis and Chlamydia," OB & GYN, 68:686, 1986.
In a classic English study at a university hospital which reported on four years’
experience, "there was a 27% complication rate from infection." J.A. Stallworthy et al.,
"Legal Abortion: A Critical Assessment of its Risks," The Lancet, Dec. 4, 1971
What of bleeding?
Bleeding is common. Most get by, but some need blood transfusions. The Stallworthy
study (above) reported that 9.5% needed transfusions. Most recent studies are reporting
smaller percentages.
Are blood transfusions a cause of death in abortions?
Yes, and these deaths are never associated directly nor reported as statistics related to
abortions. Here is how this works: First, we must know how many women need blood
transfusions after getting induced abortions. These figures are hard to come by. The only
controlled studies are from university medical enters, which do only a small fraction of all
abortions. Over 90% of abortions in the U.S. and varying percentages in other nations are
done in free-standing abortion chambers where the medical care is only a faint shadow of
the ompetence of those medical centers. Women who hemorrhage from these abortions
are sent to "real" hospitals for transfusions and surgery. The percentage who need
transfusions then must remain an estimate as these commercial establishments do not
report this. How many then? Let’s be conservative and say that one in every hundred
needs a blood transfusion. If there are 1,600,000 abortions annually in the United States,
this means that 1% or 16,000 women were transfused.
Viral hepatitis is transmitted in up to 10% of patients transfused. Ten percent of 16,000 is
1,600 women. Amer. Assn. Blood Banks and Amer. Red Cross, Circular Information,
1984, p. 6
An analysis of 300,000 cases of Hepatitis virus infection showed that deaths occurred
from three causes:
322 from acute disease, 5100 from cirrhosis, and 1200 from liver cancer. This mortality
rate is over 2%. R. Voelker, Hepatitis B: Planned Standard, Am. Med. News, Oct. 13, ‘89,
pg 2.
Two percent of 1600 women means that ultimately 32 deaths result annually from
abortions for this reason. AIDS is another threat. Two percent of AIDS has been acquired
by blood transfusions. With recent careful screening techniques, this is now much less.
Even so, 200-400 people in developed countries, per year, are still being exposed via
blood transfusions. Noyes, "Transfusions Risk Despite Screening," Family Practice News,
May 15, 1987.
In underdeveloped nations the AIDs threat ranges from seldom to common.
Are blood clots ever a problem?
Blood clots are one of the causes of death to mothers who deliver babies normally. They
are also a cause of death in healthy young women who have abortions performed.
Embolism (floating objects in the blood that go to the lungs) is another problem.
Childbirth is a normal process, and the body is well prepared for the birth of the child and
the separation and expulsion of the placenta. Surgical abortion is an abnormal process,
and slices the unripe placenta from the wall of the uterus into which its roots have grown.
This sometimes causes the fluid around the baby, or other pieces of tissue or blood clots,
to be forced into the mother’s circulation. These then travel to her lungs, causing damage
and occasional death. This is also a major cause of maternal deaths from the salt
poisoning method of abortion. For instance, pulmonary thromboembolism (blood clots to
the lungs) was the cause of eight mothers dying from abortions, as reported to the U.S.
Center for Disease Control. W. Cates et al., Amer. Jour. OB/GYN, vol. 132, p. 169 And
this can occur in those as young as 14 years old. Pediatrics, vol. 68, no. 4, Oct. 1971
Also, amniotic fluid embolism has "emerged as an important cause of death from legally
induced abortion." Of 15 cases, the risk seems to be greater after three months. Treatment
is ineffective." R. Guidotti et al., Amer. Jour. OB/GYN, vol. 41, 1981, p. 257 153
And has an 80% mortality rate. S. Clark, Amniotic Fluid Embolism, the Female Patient,
vol. 14, Aug. ’89, p. 50
What is Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation?
This is a sudden drop in blood clotting ability which causes extensive internal bleeding
and sometimes death. The classic paper was on hypertonic saline (salt poisoning)
abortions (see reference below). H. Glueck et al., "Hypertonic Saline Abortion,
Correlation with D.I.C.," JAMA, vol. 225, no. 1, July 2, 1973, pp. 28-29
"Saline-induced abortion is now the first or second most common cause of obstetric
hypofibrinogenemia." [Same as D.I.C. above]. L. Talbert, Univ. of NC, "DIC More
Common Threat with Use of Saline Abortion," Family Practice News, vol. 5, no. 19, Oct.
1975
In recent years this method has been seldom used. However, D.I.C. has also been caused
by D&E and Prostaglandin abortions. White et al., ""D.I.C. Following Three MidTrimester Abortions," Anaesthesiology, vol. 58, 1983, pp. 99-100
Apart from deliberate mis-reporting to mask abortion death, are there others
innocently missed?
Yes. For instance:
- Consider the mother who hemorrhaged, was transfused, got hepatitis, and died months
later. Official cause of death, Hepatitis. Actual cause, abortion.
- A perforated uterus leads to pelvic abscess, sepsis (blood poisoning), and death. The
official report of the cause of death may list pelvic abscess and septicemia. Abortion will
not be listed.
- Abortion causes tubal pathology. She has an ectopic pregnancy years later and dies. The
cause listed will be ectopic pregnancy. The actual cause, abortion.
- Deep depression and guilt following an abortion leads to suicide. The cause listed,
suicide! Actual cause, abortion.
But many are misreported on the original death certificate and are not quite
innocent.
- The kindhearted surgeon, unable to save the life of an abortion victim, feels that she and
her family have been punished enough. He doesn’t want to ruin her and her family’s
reputation in the community
— so he forgets to mention abortion on the death certificate.
- If the abortionist does the follow-up care and the patient dies from the abortion, the
abortionist doesn’t want the reputation of being a butcher, so another cause is listed.
- Usually, however, a different doctor sees a patient who dies from the damage done from
an abortion, but she and her family hotly deny the abortion. The abortion connection
cannot be absolutely proven, and the new doctor fears a suit for malpractice or for
defamation of character, and so he lists another cause.
You mean all maternal deaths from abortion are not reported?
That’s exactly correct. The official reporting agency for the U.S. government is the Center
for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Listen to this: During the two-year stretch of
1991 and ’92, the CDC officially reported only one mother each year dying from induced
abortion. In fact, there are 20 documented deaths. Of these, 14 were reported directly to
the CDC from state health agencies. The CDC only listed two of them. Mr. Crutcher’s
book, Lime 5, which accuses this agency of gross dishonesty and malfeasance in its
reporting, is extremely convincing. M. Crutcher, Life Dynamics, personal communication,
July ’96 155
Even so, the situation today is better than the "5,000 to 10,000 women who died
annually in the U.S.A. from back-alley abortions," isn’t it?
These figures, often cited by pro-abortionists, are simply false. During the debate on the
floor of the U.S. Senate on the Hatch-Eagleton Pro-Life Amendment in 1983, the U.S.
Bureau of Vital Statistics provided the data on such deaths. Its reports showed that you
must go back to the pre-Penicillin era to find more than 1,000 maternal deaths per year
from illegal and legal abortions combined. The precipitous drop in maternal deaths in the
1950s and ‘60s occurred while abortions were still illegal. Before the first state legalized
abortions in 1966, the total deaths were down to 120 per year. By 1972, before the
Supreme Court legalized abortion in all 50 states, it was down to 39 per year in the entire
U.S. Since legalization, the slow decline has continued, so that now the only difference is
that more mothers are dying from legal, rather than illegal abortions.
U.S. BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL
Reported Maternal Deaths from YEAR Illegal Abortion in U.S.
1940 1,679 1950 316 1960 289 1966 120 First State Legalized in 1967 1970 128 1972 39
Supreme Court Decision in 1973 1977 21 1981 8
Taken from U.S. Senate graph
What of pregnancy and abortion in teenagers?
Early on, it was thought that pregnancy in young teenagers was more risky than in older
women. But recent studies have shown that teenage mothers have no more risks during
pregnancy and labor, and their babies fare just as well as their more mature sisters’ babies,
if they have had good prenatal care.
"We have found that teenage mothers, given proper care, have the least complications in
childbirth. The younger the mother, the better the birth. If there are more problems,
society makes it so, not biology." B. Sutton-Smith, Jour. of Youth and Adolescence As
reported in the New York Times, April 24, 1979
"No relationship between mother’s physical growth and maturation and adverse
pregnancy course or outcome was demonstrated. Sukanich et al., "Physical Maturity and
Pregnancy Outcome Under 16 Years," Pediatrics, vol. 78, no. 1, July 1986, p. 31
Dr. Jerome Johnson of John Hopkins University, and Dr. Felix Heald, Professor of
Pediatrics, University of Maryland, agree that the fact that teenage mothers often have low
birth weight babies is not due to "a pregnant teenager’s biologic destiny." They pointed to
the fact that the cause for this almost invariably is due to the lack of adequate prenatal
care. "With optimal care, the outcome of an adolescent pregnancy can be as successful as
the outcome of a non-adolescent pregnancy." Family Practice News, Dec. 15, 1975
"The overall incidence of pregnancy complications among adolescents 16 years and
younger is similar to that reported for older women." E. Hopkins, "Pregnancy
Complications Not Higher in Teens," OB-GYN News, vol. 15, no. 10, May 1980
"Obstetric and neonatal risks for teenagers over 15 are no greater than for women in their
twenties, provided they receive adequate care." There is evidence that in 15- to 17-year
old women, pregnancy may even be healthier than in older ages. E. McAnarney,
"Pregnancy May Be Safer," OB-GYN News, Jan. 1978 Pediatrics, vol. 6, no. 2, Feb. 1978,
pp. 199-205 F. Avey, Canada Col. Family Physicians, "Pregnant Teens . . ." Family
Practice News, Jan. 15, 1987, p. 14
But the abortion picture is different, particularly in regard to cervical damage.
After years of legalized abortion experience, a pro-abortion professor of OB/GYN at the
University of Newcastle-on-Tyne reported on his follow-up, ranging from two to twelve
years, of 50 teenage mothers who had been aborted by him. He noted that "the cervix of
the young teenager, pregnant for the first time, is invariably small and tightly closed and
especially liable to damage on dilatation." He reported on the "rather dismal" results of
their 53 subsequent pregnancies: Six had another induced abortion. Nineteen had
spontaneous miscarriages. One delivered a stillborn baby at 6 months. Six babies died
between birth and 2 years. Twenty-one babies survived J. Russell, "Sexual Activity and
Its Consequences in the Teenager." Clinics in OB, GYN, vol. 1, no. 3, Dec. 1974, pp. 683698
"Physical and emotional damage from abortion is greater in a young girl. Adolescent
abortion candidates differ from their sexually mature counterparts, and these differences
contribute to high morbidity." They have immature cervixes and "run the risk of a
difficult, potentially traumatic dilatation." The use of laminaria "in no way mitigates our
present concern over the problems of abortion." 158 C. Cowell, Problems of Adolescent
Abortion, Ortho Panel 14, Toronto General Hospital
"The younger the patient, the greater the gestation (age of the unborn), the higher the
complication rate. . . . Some of the most catastrophic complications occur in teenagers."
"Eighty-seven percent (87%) of 486 obstetricians and gynecologists had to hospitalize at
least one patient this year due to complications of legal abortions." M. Bulfin, M.D., OBGYN Observer, Oct.-Nov. 1975
Abortions May Be Legal But
They Are Not Always Safe