Abortion Increases Women's Mortality Rate

Elliot Institute ^ | August 27, 2002

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

Abortion Increases Women's Mortality Rate

Springfield, IL -- A study published in the latest issue of the Southern Medical Journal reveals that women who have abortions are at significantly higher risk of death than women who give birth. This finding contradicts the widely accepted opinion that abortion is safer than childbirth.

Researchers examined death records linked to Medi-Cal payments for births and abortions for approximately 173,000 low income Californian women. They discovered that women who had abortions were almost twice as likely to die in the following two years and that the elevated mortality rate of aborting women persisted over at least eight years.

During the eight year period studied, women who aborted had a 154 percent higher risk of death from suicide, an 82 percent higher risk of death from accidents, and a 44 percent higher risk of death from natural causes.

This is the second major record-based study to link abortion to elevated mortality rates. In 1997, a study of women in Finland sent a tremor of worry through family planning agencies when it revealed that in the first year following an abortion, aborting women were 252 percent more likely to die compared to women who delivered and 76 percent more likely to die compared to women who had not been pregnant.

This new study confirms the trend found in Finland. It is also the first American study to use a uniform and objective standard for associating deaths with prior abortions and births.

Critics of abortion have long complained about the inaccuracies of abortion mortality figures. There are no federal or state regulations requiring the reporting of abortion complications. Indeed, the international standard for identifying cause of death does not even provide a means for identifying surgical abortion as a cause of death.

Another recently published Elliot Institute study using the California data reveals that aborting women also seek more subsequent mental health care. A third Elliot Institute study, published last January in the British Medical Journal, reveals that subsequent long-term clinical depression is more common among those women who have had abortions. Depression can weaken the immune system and reduce overall health.

More information, researchers comments, and a link to the actual study are posted for the press at http://www.afterabortion.org/News/deaths_smj.html

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

The media loves to report on health studies. Something tells me that most main stream media will not find this study news worthy. Main stream media is actively involved in covering up the health risks of abortion. This fact should not dissuade pro-life activists from sharing these studies with the media.

In addition to the health risks presented in this study, there are dozens of studies that show an increased risk of breast cancer after an abortion. The increased health risks are particularly among those with a family history who abort their first child.

[uncbob]

This probably has mote to do with the mindset and character of those getting abortions than with the abortion itself as a health reason

[SarahW]

Um, sorry, but the conclusion here is bogus, both dishonest and misleading.

The "increased mortality" reported here is *not* women dying because of complications of induced abortion.

[TamiPie]

Remember - it's a woman's "right to choose"

[phalynx]

Perhaps the finding is, Women who choose to have an abortion care don't care as much about life than those women who do not have abortions. In such, those who don't care as much about life end up dying as a casualty of their own.

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

These are statistics, not subject to feelings or bias. Having said that, I think that the statistics probably reflect the fact the the group of women who seek abortions are more likely to die because of a number of reasons including: an increased tendancy partake in risky behavior, poor decision skills, a fast, loose lifestyle, etc.

Maybe it should have been made clear that having an abortion places you in a group of people that is statistically more likely to die for a number of reasons.

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

Our millitary can legally kill people under certain conditions which are very restrictive. After conviction for a capital crime, our corrections institutions, in certain states, can kill people after exhausting all legal processes. Women can kill their children in the womb without any sound reason. Where is that "right" granted in our constitution? I've never been able to find it. I need your help.

I realize that the Supreme Court manufactured the "right to kill unborn people", but they were not looking to the constitution when made their decision.

Both litigants in Roe v. Wade are now Pro-Life.

[joonbug]

This shows an association, not cause and effect. I have heard reports of higher risks of various cancers later in life due to abortion, but don't know how strong these risks are.