November 2018 – Article 2:
The abortion industry’s claims about safety are built on a house of cards that’s beginning to unravel.
“Safe, legal and rare” is still the mantra of those who have mastered the art of deception in misleading women about the safety of ripping a pre-born child from their womb.
While it’s currently legal, calling it rare is laughable with nearly one million innocent lives brutally ended every year.
As for safety, a growing body of studies are lifting the veil of secrecy that has hidden the ugly truth—abortion is far from safe. These efforts are especially challenging since there are no uniform requirements for reporting abortion complications. While Georgia does require the reporting of such incidents, the abortion provider self reports, and many states don’t report at all.
Abortion Contributes to Risk of Premature Death
One recent report, published in Sage Open Medicine, says that legal abortion contributes to a fifty percent increased risk of premature death in women who have had an abortion.
Within the first 180 days, the risk of death from any cause is more than twice as high following an abortion compared to risks following delivery.
And the risk of early death remains elevated for ten years.
Both abortion and miscarriage are linked to elevated mortality rates, but the effect is more strongly associated with induced abortions.
The largest portion of premature deaths following pregnancy loss are due to suicides, accidents, homicides, and some natural causes, such as circulatory disease.
The researchers concluded that the findings are best explained by the psychological effects of pregnancy loss, which contribute to increased levels of stress, substance abuse, risk taking, and other self-destructive behaviors.
They also demonstrate that each additional abortion increases the risk of a premature death by another 50 percent compared to women who have never had an abortion.
In contrast, delivering two or more pregnancies improves a woman’s longevity.
Eight Year Study
Another massive, eight-year study conducted by Americans United for Life (AUL) sheds even more light on an industry that sacrifices safety in its pursuit of profits.
Titled “Unsafe: How The Public Health Crisis in America’s Abortion Clinics Endangers Women,” the 219-page report concludes the practice of abortion in America has devolved into the “red light district” of medicine populated by dangerous, substandard providers.
The study documents that 227 abortion providers in 32 states were cited for more than 1,400 health and safety deficiencies between 2008 and 2016. Moreover, it reveals hundreds of significant violations of state laws regulating abortion facilities.
One example cited in the report was a 2015 investigation by WSB-TV that found numerous and repeated health and safety violations at multiple abortion facilities in Georgia including: unsterilized equipment, expired medications, soiled linens in procedure rooms, and stirrups wrapped in duct tape.
The following are some of the risks documented in the peer-reviewed report.
Abortion Has Undisputed Immediate Health Risks
They include blood clots, hemorrhages, incomplete abortion, infection and injury to the cervix and other organs.
Abortion can also cause cardiac and respiratory arrest, renal failure, metabolic disorder, and shock.
Physical and Psychological Consequences
They include: subsequent pre-term births, serious mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, breast cancer, future miscarriages, and even suicide.
Chemical Abortion Risks
Since the approval of RU-486 in 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received numerous reports of problems with the drug.
A 2011 FDA report includes 2,207 cases of severe adverse events including blood loss requiring transfusions, serious infections, and even death.
Worse, the FDA acknowledges that it captures “only a small portion of events that actually occur.”
Additionally, abortion providers are openly flouting FDA protocol and state laws designed to protect women against these dangers. Planned Parenthood’s own studies acknowledge that off-label use of chemical abortions has come at the cost of women’s lives and “higher than expected” consequences to health.
These problems are compounded by the fact that RU-486 can be obtained on line without a prescription and no doctor involvement.
Risk of Complications Increase
According to the study, gestational age is the strongest risk factor for abortion-related mortality.
Compared to an abortion at eight weeks of gestation, the relative risk of death increases by 38 percent for each additional week of gestation.
In other words, a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks (five months) is 35 times more likely to die than she was in the first trimester. At 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die than she was in the first trimester.
Myth: Abortion is Safer Than Childbirth
One study dealing with abortion and childbirth in Denmark found that: “Compared to women who delivered, women who had an early or late abortion had significantly higher mortality rates within 1 to 10 years.”
A 2012 study examined trends in maternal death in Chile when abortion was legal and after it was banned.
The results showed the death rate actually declined, from 40.3 deaths per 100,000 live births when abortion was legal, to just 12.7 deaths after the practice was outlawed. That’s a lower mortality rate than in the United States and is the lowest in all of Latin America.
Similar results were found in a study involving Ireland (where abortion is illegal) compared to England and Scotland, where abortion is allowed.
The facts are clear: abortion is not safer than the God-given gift of childbirth and that truth is being revealed.
It’s time for pro-life supporters to be more active in sharing this truth with people they know.
Sources: aul.org; afterabortion.org; lifesitenews.com; ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor