Posted on 05/14/2005 5:25:00 PM PDT by Asphalt
Having an abortion almost doubles a woman's risk of giving birth dangerously early in a later pregnancy, according to research that will provoke fresh debate over the most controversial of all medical procedures.
A French study of 2,837 births - the first to investigate the link between terminations and extremely premature births - found that mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks' gestation. Many babies born this early die soon after birth, and a large number who survive suffer serious disability.
The research leader, Dr Caroline Moreau, an epidemiologist at the Hôpital de Bicêtre in Paris, said the results of the study, which appear in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, provided conclusive evidence of a link between induced abortion and subsequent pre-term births.
Last night anti-abortion campaigners seized on the evidence to demand that all women seeking a termination be warned, routinely, that they are jeopardising the well-being of future babies. A series of earlier, smaller studies had failed to provide clear evidence of a link and so women currently opting for an abortion are not warned of the risk.
Dr Moreau said: "Clearly there is a link. The results suggest that induced abortion can damage the cervix in some way that makes a premature birth more likely in subsequent pregnancies."
Her study compared the medical histories of 2,219 women with babies born at less than 34 weeks with another 618 who had given birth at full term. Overall, women who had had an abortion were 40 per cent more likely to have a very pre-term delivery (less than 33 weeks) than those without such a history. The risk of an extremely premature baby - one born at less than 28 weeks - was raised even more sharply, by 70 per cent. Abortion appeared to increase the risk of most major causes of premature birth, including premature rupture of membranes, incorrect position of the foetus on the placenta and spontaneous early labour. The only common cause of premature birth not linked to abortion was high blood pressure.
Mr Peter Bowen-Simpkins, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a consultant obstetrician at the Sancta Maria Hospital in Swansea, said the study revealed that abortion might not be as safe as previously supposed. "This study shows that surgical termination of pregnancies may have late complications and may not be without risk," he said.
About 185,000 women have abortions in Britain each year, for social or medical reasons, and last night anti-abortion campaigners seized upon the new study as evidence that the risks have been underplayed.
Jack Scarisbrick, the chairman of the campaign group Life, said: ''We have been saying for years that surgical abortion inevitably increases the risk of later problems. It seems that the abortion procedure carries with it risks that women will know nothing about until they become pregnant with a 'wanted' child later on."
About 80,000 babies in the UK and Ireland are born prematurely each year; 17,000 of these need intensive care.
A spokesman for Marie Stopes International, which is the largest provider of abortions outside the NHS, said that women seeking terminations were not told of increased risks of premature births "because so far, they have not been established".
Now, THIS is an unexpected development. If this proves to be accurate data, it could have a major effect in some minds.
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Women who get abortions because a baby is inconvenient should be sterilised at the same time. Those who dont want any more kids because they already have too many shouldnt mind and the others dont deserve to have any more after they already killed one.
Women who have abortions because the baby is malformed or has serious problems. or for the health of the mother get a pass.
let's see abortion can cause an increase in breast cancer, now it appears it causes the ''wanted'' child to prematurely deliver. It seems also to be the cause of post abortion depression and I think there was also a study that showed increase of risky behaviors such as drugs and increased heavy drinking by post abortion women.
I am so glad that NARAL and the other death mongers are so concerned with ''women's health.'' If they become more concerned it would the death of us all.
I think you both have lists for this?
Interesting indeed, but not yet convincing. Might it be that women who have had an abortion are perhaps more likely to have engaged in sex at a younger age, engaged in risky behaviors, et cetera? Perhaps the situation here is that there is another factor that expresses itself in both abortions and in things that lead to the other issues expressed.
Correlation is not causation, folks. Careful how you read this.
After a while the statistics catch up.
True enough, correlation is not causation, but we might look elsewhere for evidence that the effect is real. The fact that the Democrats are disappearing while unwed births are increasing in frequency is such evidence.
I'm not sure about the data. However, I know for certain of a few young women who each had an abortion and later tried to have a baby only to have the babies very early and they were unable to survive.
Abortion is murder and will open a person up to evil. Murder, depression, alcoholism and drug abuse are in the same family of evil.
This is not really new news. It's been known for a long time that a woman's cervix is weakened by the abortion process.
What's new is that this long-known fact is now making headlines. I don't know what's behind this study's getting publicity. Could be that the medical establishment is feeling pangs of guilt over having suppressed the truth about abortion? Naaahhhhh.
But I'm not complaining. The more women know, the better.
Planned Parenthood would be closed down in a heartbeat, if they were held to the standards every other outpatient surgi-center in the USA follows.
Physical Risks include:
Hemorrhage: Sometimes women will bleed heavily during an abortion or a few days afterwards. Occasionally it is necessary to give a transfusion to replace the lost blood. Sometimes it is necessary to do a second curettage procedure or hysterectomy to stop the bleeding.
Infection: A uterus is susceptible to infection right after an abortion. Infections are even more of a risk if you have Chlamydia or Gonorrhea. Symptoms are pain and fever. This is generally treated with antibiotics but sometimes another curettage procedure must be used. If untreated, a very serious infection can develop and could result in infertility.
Perforation: Sometimes the tools of abortion are accidentally pushed through the wall of the uterus during an abortion. If the instrument damages one of your internal organs, it may be necessary to do major surgery to repair the damage.
Effects on Later Pregnancy: Severe injury to the cervix may occur and may result in the early loss of a later wanted pregnancy. The risk of miscarriage in later pregnancies is higher if a woman has had two or more abortions.
Continued Pregnancy: The fetus may be growing in your fallopian tube rather than in your uterus. An abortion procedure would miss this and the continued growth of the fetus in your tube is dangerous.
Death: Death has occurred after abortion, though this is rare. When abortion is done after the first three months of pregnancy, the risk of death increases. The cause of death by abortion is usually from heavy bleeding or from complications with anesthesia (the drugs used to help relieve pain).
Emotional Risks Some women experience an immediate feeling of relief following an abortion, but many find themselves later coping with feelings they did not expect. They may have a difficult time talking about these feelings. However, many women who have had abortions experience similar feelings. Some psychologists have labeled these problems as Post Abortion Stress.
The symptoms of Post Abortion Stress span a wide range and can affect men who have lost a child to an abortion as well as women.
Long-term grief reactions: Guilt, Anger, Flashbacks Sexual dysfunction, Memory repression, Anniversary reactions, Suicidal ideas, Hallucinations, Difficulty keeping close relationships, Increased alcohol and drug use.
Coleus,We knew that ,bump.
The hazards of prematurely dilating a cervix which is unprepared for it have been documented for at least twenty years, by among others Dr. John Wilke of National Right to Life.
Probably why the MSM ignored it until published by the more trustworthy Frenchie-Frenchpersons.
I have personally taken care of post abortion hemorrhage, sepsis and perforation patients.
No different than if they were done with a coat hanger.
Truth be known, there are far more deaths to women from legal abortions than there ever were to the illegal ones.
bump for truth.
Click for sweet 4-D baby pix:
http://extremetruths.blogspot.com/2005/05/4-pictures-of-ultrasounds-in-4d.html
Abortion ping.
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