8mm
Posted on 12/11/2007 4:25:55 PM PST by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two researchers say reducing abortions in the United States would significantly cut the rate of premature births. They say the rate has increased as abortion has been legalized and point to Poland as an example of how banning or significantly reducing abortions would help pregnant women.
Dr. Richard E. Behrman, representing the Institute of Medicine, has identified prior first-trimester induced abortion as an “immutable medical risk factor associated with pre-term birth.”
In his book Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention, Behrman found that the premature birth rate in the U.S. was 12.5% in 2004 -- 40 percent higher than the rate of 8.9% in 1980.
Citing that data, researchers Brent Rooney, of Canada, and William Robert Johnston, of Texas, published in a letter in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, saying that prohibiting abortion would reverse the trend and also drive down medical costs.
To back up their claim, they point to United Nations data showing Poland dramatically reduced its rates of premature birth, maternal mortality and infant mortality within a few years after its abortion rate declined by 98% between 1989 and 1993 (as a result of the passage of an abortion ban).
"If induced abortion significantly elevates pre-term birth risk, one would expect Poland’s pre-term birth rate to slump 5–10 years after the induced-abortion rate plunge," they wrote.
They say data from UNICEF found that, between 1995 and 1997, Poland’s pre-term birth rate dropped by 41.8% and maternal mortality decreased 41.4%, and infant mortality was down by 25.0%.
"We know of no other such rapid decrease in pre-term birth rate," the researchers say.
Improved diet and better medical care are alternate explanations for plunge in premature birth figures. But, Rooney and Johnston cite a 1987 study of Polish women, published in the Polish journal Wiad Lek, found that women who had induced abortions had 88% higher relative odds of pre-term birth compared to women who had never had an abortion.
They also point to an October 2007 study in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, that compiled 58 prior studies finding significantly higher pre-term birth and low-birth weight risks for women with prior surgical abortions.
Another study involving the RU 486 abortion drug found the same results.
"Although it is possible that the decline in Polish legal abortions is partly offset by illegal abortions, the evidence of controlled studies provides very strong evidence that induced abortion elevates the risk of pre-term birth," the researchers conclude.
"We predict that cutting the high rate of induced abortion in the U.S. would not only decrease future breast cancer incidence but also reduce pre-term births," they wrote.
However, the ONLY priority for the culture of death is abortion.
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It would certainly have a salutary effect on the rate of premature deaths.
How about reducing unplanned pregnancies and thus reducing the need for abortions and subsequently the premature birth rate?
reducing abortions would help pregnant women.
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Help women? Huh?
Seems like the people “helped” are the babies killed by abortion and those babies more likely to be born prematurely.
So women who’ve had abortions have higher risk in subsequent pregnancies to deliver prematurely?
First time I’m hearing this.
Old news ,, been around for at least 2-3 years... it was first statistically shown in Norway/Sweden... This is a huge “informed consent” issue... I would (if I was a lawyer) be on top of this ... many women will refuse to sue an abortionist if they are harmed but when they lose a “wanted” child due to prematurity you have a client.
How tragic, to lose, as you put it, a wanted child later to prematurity.
So much better for a woman to go through with the unwanted pregnancy and give up the child for adoption and then be healthy later and avoid such a terrible thing.
One more reason to be pro-life.
You ‘ll never read it or see it in MSM.
Check out the Medical Journals though.
Wouldn’t it make sense that if you force the cervix to open to allow the abortionists’ tools of the trade into your womb to detach and destroy your child and its umbicial cord, that perhaps your cervix would be weakened for later pregnancies and that the lining of your uterus might be injured and scarred by the cutting and scraping?
Unthinkable! It’s late and I’m exhausted, so it tears me up to think of such. May God have mercy on the murdered babies, on the mothers, and on the ghouls that perform abortions!
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