European newspapers are reporting that a new review of 75 scientific studies shows that women who have had a pregnancy terminated by abortion or miscarriage are far more likely to give birth prematurely in subsequent pregnancies. The findings were presented at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.
The Mirror (U.K.) gives details:
A single termination raised the risk by 20%. Two or more increased the chances by 90%.
And women who have had more than one abortion double their risk of having a “very” premature baby – classed as being born before 34 weeks.
Lead researcher Dr Robbert van Oppenraaij said: “It can be concluded that a history of abortion is associated with an increased risk for premature delivery and very premature delivery.”
He added more research was needed as the findings showed only an association between abortions and pre-term delivery and not necessarily a direct link.
This is not news for pro-lifers, and should not really be news to the medical community; similar results were reported in a prominent American study in 2003 (download it here). However, there is great resistance in the scientific community to studying the effects of abortion, and there is likewise resistance in the media to reporting the results of such studies when they do not present abortion as a healthy “choice.” A survey of 162 research scientists last year found that “one-fourth of the respondents no longer included controversial topics (for example, ‘abortion’ and ‘emergency contraception’) in their research agendas, and four researchers had made major career changes as a result of the controversy.”
RELATED: Americans United for Life works towards informed-consent laws requiring abortion providers to tell patients about possible complications and other unforeseen outcomes — just as doctors are required to do before conducting any other medical procedure. Informed-consent laws also give a woman the opportunity to see her unborn child via ultrasound — to insure she is aware that it is a child, and not, as Planned Parenthood calls it, a “tissue of pregnancy.” AUL Staff Counsel Mailee Smith describes the necessity for such regulations in “Informed-Consent Laws: Protecting a Woman’s Right to Know.”
