[RonF]

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.

[muawiyah]

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.

[shhrubbery!]

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?

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.

[stylin_geek]

I think you've got an excellent point, although, I can see where this might correlate with the fact that uterine scaring is far from uncommon after an abortion. By the way, on the web site wwww.americanpregnancy.org, the potential side effects are called "less frequent." See here.

[SuziQ]

Correlation is not causation, folks. Careful how you read this.

The finding makes perfect sense when you understand what has to be done to perform an abortion. In order to abort a baby, the cervix must be opened, because that powerful muscle is what is holding the baby inside. During the birth process the cervix is dilated (opened)slowly and naturally because of the hormones released by the baby signalling the time for its birth. In an abortion, these hormones are not present, so the cervix has to be forced open.

The forced opening of the cervix causes that muscle to lose some of its strength. It is then less effective in holding a subsequent baby in the womb as it grows and exerts more pressure on the cervix. Because of this, babies are born prematurely because their mothers cannot hold them in the womb much past the beginning of the third trimester when the baby has grown much larger.

[hocndoc]

I get the impression that any researcher who approaches this topic does so with the utmost care, in order to avoid the demonization of the pro-abortion crowd. This appears to be a very well designed and analysed study.


You can read the original article ($26 for 30 days' access) at

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2004.00478.x
The abstract is available online at


The risks were adjusted for age and other risk factors:
"a Adjusted for maternal age, parity, previous preterm births, marital status, educational level, employment during pregnancy, weight before pregnancy, smoking during pregnancy in a polytomous regression model."


Prior to adjustment, the risk was 1.9 for the very preterm births.