"Out of the mouths of children and babies Thou hast ordained praise...." (Psalm 8:2)
Health And Safety Concerns
excerpts from "ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments" by Randy Alcorn
Encouraging Mothers And Fathers To Choose Life For Their Unborn Babies
Women still die from legal abortions in America.
Since public officials stopped looking for abortion-caused deaths after abortion became legal, the opportunity to overlook
or cover up abortion-caused deaths is now much greater. A former abortion clinic owner says, "A woman died because of an
abortion at our clinic, but the public never heard about it, and it wasn't reported to the authorities as abortion-related." 364
Abortion is not safer than full-term pregnancy and childbirth.
Less than one in ten thousand pregnancies results in the mother's death. 372 Government statistics indicate that the
chances of death by abortion are even less. But while deaths from childbirth are accurately reported, many deaths by
legal abortion are not. This completely skews the statistics. Furthermore, "abortion actually increases the chance of
maternal death in later pregnancies." 373 This means that some maternal deaths in full-term pregnancies are actually
caused by earlier abortions, which creates a double inaccuracy.
A year 2000 government-funded study in Finland revealed that women who abort are four times more likely to die in the year
following the abortion than women who carry their pregnancies to term.
"The researchers found that, compared to women who carried to term, women who had aborted in the year prior to their
deaths were 60 percent more likely to die from natural causes, seven times more likely to die from suicide, four times more
likely to die of injuries related to accidents and four times more like to die of homicide. Researchers believe that the
higher rate of deaths related to accidents and homicide may be linked to higher rates of suicidal or risk-taking behavior."
Abortion can produce many serious medical problems.
Ectopic pregnancies occur when gestation takes place outside the uterus, commonly in a fallopian tube. Though usually not
fatal, such pregnancies are nontheless responsible for 12 percent of all pregnancy-related maternal deaths. 377 Studies show
that the risk of an ectopic pregnancy is twice as high for women who have had one abortion, and up to four times as high for
women with two or more previous abortions. 378 There has been a 300 percent increase in ectopic pregnancies since abortion
was legalized. In 1979 the incidence was 4.8 per 1,000 births; by 1980 it had risen to 14.5 per 1,000 births. 379
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is an infection that leads to fever and infertility. Researchers state, "Pelvic infection is
a common and serious complication of induced abortion and has been reported in up to 30% of all cases." 380 A study of
women having first-trimester abortions demonstrated "woomen with postabortive pelvic inflammatory disease had significantly
higher rates of...spontaneous abortion (miscarriages), secondary infertility, dyspareunia (difficult or painful sexual
intercourse), and chronic pelvic pain." 381 Other infectious complications, as well as endometriosis (a female health
disorder that occurs when cells from the lining of the womb grow in other areas of the body, which can lead to pain, irregular
bleeding, and problems getting pregnant / infertility), follow approximately 5 percent of abortion procedures. 382
Internal bleeding is normal following abortions, but in some cases it is severe due to a perforated uterus. This can cause
sterility and other serious and permanent problems. A perforated uterus was the cause of at least twenty-four deaths
among U.S. women have abortions between 1972 and 1979. 383 Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that the change of
miscarriage significantly increases with abortion, as much as tenfold. 384 Tragically, some women are unable to conceive
after having abortions. Tubal infertility has been found to be up to 30 percent more common among women who have had
abortions. 385
The health of future children is also at risk, as both premature births and low birth weights are more common among women who
have had abortions. 386 Malformations, both major and minor, of later children are increased by abortions. 387 For various
reasons, the frequency of early deaths for infants born after their mothers have had abortions is between two and four times
the normal rate. 388
The Elliot Institute has published data indicating that women who abort are twice as likely to have preterm or postterm
deliveries. 389 Placenta previa is a condition occusing when the placenta covers the cervix, preventing the baby from passing
through the birth canal. It usually requires a caesarian section and can threaten the life of both mother and child.
Placenta previa is seven to fifteen times more common among women who have had abortions than among those who have not. 390
After carefully studying the vast body of the world's medical literature on the subject, Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers concluded,
"The medical hazards of legally induced abortion are very significant and should be conscientiously weighed." 392
Abortion significantly raises the rate of breast cancer.
Because of the rapid growth of breast tissue in early pregnancy, a premature cessation of pregnancy (such as that caused
by abortion) creates an unnatural condition. Consequently, women who have first trimester abortions face twice the risk of
contracting breast cancer as those who complete their pregnancies and give birth. 393
The leading authority on the connection of abortion and breast cancer is Dr. Joel Brind, Professor of Endocrinology,
Department of Natural Sciences, Baruch College of the City University of New York. He is the author of the Comprehensive
Review and Meta-Analysis of the Abortion/Breast Cancer Link. Dr Brind says "the single most avoidable risk factor for breast
cancer is induced abortion." 394
In his testimony before the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Brind
said,
"Only induced abortion--not spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)--is consistently linked to the incidence of breast cancer.
An early full-term pregnancy decreases breast cancer risk. Since induced abortion also abrogates this protective effect,
it raises breast cancer risk in two ways for young nulliparous women." 395
According to Dr. Brind, the scientific community has known for over twenty years that early abortion is a risk factor for
breast cancer. Dozens of studies have been published confirming this. Yet this information has not even been acknowledged
in the literature of the American Cancer Society. These studies show that aborting a first pregnancy during the first
trimester can double a woman's risk of breast cancer. Multiple abortions can triple or quadruple the risk. In a
National Review article, Dr. Brind asks what seems to be a reasonable question: "If there is a way to reduce the
incident of breast cancer, shouldn't American women be told about it?" 402
The true risks of abortion are rarely explained to women by those who perform abortion.
It is common to talk to women physically or psychologically damaged by abortions, who say, "I had no idea this could
happen; no one told me about the risks." Many people do not realize the privileged status of abortion clinics:
"Abortion is the only surgery for which the surgeon is not obligated to inform the patient of the possible
risks of the procedure, or even the exact nature of the procedure. Indeed, abortion providers are the only
medical personnel who have a "constitutional right" to withhold information, even when directly questioned by
the patient." 407
The various abortion procedures are often both difficult and painful for women.
Research demonstrates abortion's adverse psychological effects on women.
Dozens of studies tie abortion to a rise in sexual disfunction, impotency, aversion to sex, loss of intimacy, unexpected
guilt and extramarital affairs, traumatic stress syndrome, personality fragmentation, grief responses, child abuse and
neglect, and increase in alcohol and drug abuse. 443
The many postabortion therapy and support groups testify to the reality of abortion's potentially harmful psychological
effects.
Women Exploited by Abortion (WEBA) has over thirty thousand members in more than two hundred chapters across the United
States, with chapters in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. 446 (There are many other
post-abortion support and recovery groups as well, besides WEBA.) The existence of such groups testifies to the mental
and emotional needs of women who have had abortions.
I read an editorial comparing abortion to a root canal or to have one's tonsils or appendix removed. But why are there
no ongoing support groups for those who have had tosillectomies, appendectomies, and root canals? Because abortion takes a toll on women
that normal surgeries do not. And no wonder - normal surgeries do not take a life.
The suicide rate is significantly higher among women who have had abortions than among those who haven't.
"Feelings of rejection, low self-esteem, guilt and depression are all ingredients for suicide, and the rate of
suicide attempts among post-abortive women is phenomenally high. According to one study, women who have had abortions are
nine times more likely to attempt suicide than woen in the general population." 447
Women's World reports a study of post-abortive women in which 45 percent said they had thoughts of suicide
following their abortions. 448 The article quotes women who describe the aftermath of abortion as "devastating",
"insidious", "misery", and "prolonged anguish." One woman says, "I was completely overwhelmed with grief." Another says,
"I was so depressed, nothing mattered," and "I wished I were dead."
Prochoice advocates often claim that former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report that there were no adverse,
psychological effects of abortion on women. This is not true. Dr. Koop states after the report that as a physician he
knows abortions are dangerous to a woman's mental health. "There is no doubt about it," he commented. 453
From a survey of psychiatric and psychological studies, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concluded,
"The incidence of serious, permanent psychiatric aftermath [of abortion] is variously reported as between 9 and 59%." 458
Even taking a low figure, if one out of ten women getting abortions faced such "serious" and "permanent" psychiatric effects,
this would be 160,000 women per year.
Columnist John Leo cites a researcher who says that only 1 percent of women who abort are "so severely scarred by post-abortion
trauma that they become unable to function normally." Leo noted that given the number of abortions that year, this 1 percent came
to sixteen thousand "severely scarred" women per year 459 and over a quarter of a million women "severely scarred
and unable to function normally" since abortion was legalized. The percentage may be low, but the total numbers are
staggering.
Most women have not been warned about and are completely unprepared for the psychological consequences of abortion.
A women getting an abortion at three months relays her conversation with an abortion clinic counselor:
"Are there psychological problems?" I continued.
"Hardly ever. Don't worry," I was told.
"What does a three-month-old-fetus look like?"
"Just a clump of cells," she answered matter-of-factly. 470
Later, this same women, by then sterile as a result of her abortion, saw some pictures of fetal development. She said, "when I
saw that a three-month-old 'clump of cells' had fingers and toes and was a perfectly formed baby, I became really
hysterical. I'd been lied to and misled, and I'm sure thousands of other women are being just as poorly informed and
badly served." 471
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Psychologist Vincent Rue confirms that this kind of misinformation is common:
"I have seen hundreds of patients in my office who have had abortions who were just lied to by the abortion
counselor. Namely: 'This is less painful than having a tooth removed. It is not a baby.' Afterwards, the woman sees
Life magazine and she breaks down and goes into a major depression." 472
Dilation and evacuation (D & E), saline, and prostaglandin abortions can all cause pain for the unborn. 438
Because of the obvious fact that late-term abortions cause pain for preborn children a California assemblyman introduced the
Fetal Pain Prevention Act of 1998, which would have required that babies be sedated to reduce their suffering in third
trimester abortions. (The Center for Disease Control indicates thirty-nine hundred of these are performed annually in California
alone.) Planned Parenthood strongly opposed the bill, which subsequently failed.
Of course, the solution is not to inflict less suffering while killing babies, but to stop killing babies in the first place.
But what does it say about our society, or about Planned Parenthood or the prochoice movement, that people would not only insist
upon the killing, but refuse to require measures to reduce human suffering? These are measures that would be required by
any veterinary clinic in putting to sleep a dog.
From the child's point of view, there is no such thing as a safe, legal abortion. It is always deadly. For every two
people who enter an abortion clinic, only one comes out alive.
These are only excerpts from "Arguments Concerning Health And Safety" (pages 173-217 of Randy Alcorn's book "ProLife Answers
to ProChoice Arguments"). Much more detailed information is included in the entirety of this chapter, and in the whole book. Please be
sure to order your copy of "ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments" from
Eternal Perspective Ministies. "If you have room for only one prolife book in your library, make
sure it is this one." - GEORGE GRANT
Footnotes:
364. Carol Everett, personal conversation with the author and Frank Peretti on 24 May 1991.
372. American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine, ed. Charles B. Clayton (New York: Random HOuse, 1989), 58.
373. Reardon, Aborted Women, 113.
377. Family Planning Perspectives, March-April 1983, 85-6.
378. Ann Aschengrau Levin, "Ectopic Pregnancy and Prior Induced Abortion," Americna Journal of Public Health (March 1982): 253.
379. Us. Department of Health and Human Services, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 33 (April 1984).
380. Allan Osser, M.D. and Kenneth Persson, M.D., "Postabortal Pelvic Infection Associated with Chlamydia Tracomatis and the Influence of Humoral Immunity,"
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology November 1984): 669-703.
381. Lars Heisterberg, M.D., et al. "Sequelae of Induced First-Trimester Abortion," American Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology (July 1986): 79.
382. Ronald T. Burkman, M.D., "Culture and Treatment Results in Endometritis Following Elective Abortion," American Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology (July 1977): 556-9.
383. David A. Grimes, "Fatal Hemorrhage from Legal Abortion in the United States," Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics (November 1983): 461-6.
384. Ann Anschengrau Levin, "Assocation of Induced Abortion with Subsequent Pregnancy Loss," Journal of the American
Medical Association (June 1980): 2495-9; Carol Madore, "A Study on the Effects of Induced Abortion on Subsequent
Pregnancy Outcome," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (March 1981): 516-21; Shari Linn, M.D., "The
Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Outcome of Subsequent Pregnancies," American Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology (May 1983): 136-40.
385. Janet R. Daling, Ph.D., "Tubal Infertility in Relation to Prior Induced Abortion," Fertility and Sterility
(March 1985): 389-94.
386. Madore, "Effects of Induced Abortion," 516-21; Linn, "Outcome of Subsequent Pregnancies," 136-40.
387. Linn, "Outcome of Subsequent Pregnancies," 136-40.
388. John A. Richardson and Geoffrey Dixon, "Effects of Legal Termination on Subsequent Pregancy," British Medical
Journal (1976): 1303-4.
389. The Elliot Institute, www.afterabortion.org.
390. Jeffrey M. Barrett, M.D., "Induced Abortion: A Risk Factor for Placental Previa," American Journal of Obtetrics and
Gynecology (December 1981): 769.
392. Thomas W. Hilgers and Dennis J. Horan, Abortion and Social Justice (Thaxton, Va.: sun Life, 1980), 58, 77.
393. M. C. Pike, "Oral Contraceptive Use and Early Abortion as Risk Factors for Breast Cancer in Young Women," British
Journal: Cancer 1981, 72-6.
394. Dr. Joel Brind, "Comprehensie Review and Meta-Analysis of the Abortion/Breast Cancer Link," members.aol.com/DFjoseph/brind.html .
395. Dr. Joel Brind, text of oral testimony given before the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug
Administration at its public meeting of 19 July 1996, www.epm.org/resources/1996/Jul/19/testimony-fda/ .
402. Dr. Joel Brind, "May Cause Cancer", National Review, 25 December 1995, 38.
407. Reardon, Aborted Women, 234.
443. "Abortion's Adverse Physical and Psychological Effects on Women" (list of studies), www.abortionresearch.com/articles.htm#adverse .
446. "Tearing Down The Wall," LifeSupport, Spring-Summer 1991, 1-3.
447. Reardon, Aborted Women, 129.
448. Martina Mahler, "Abortion: The Pain No One Talks About," Women's World, 24 September 1991, 6.
453. "Exclusive Interview: U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop," Rutherford Journal (Spring 1989): 31.
458. Reardon, Aborted Women, 119.
459. John Leo, "Moral Complexity of Choice," U.S. News and World Report, 11 December 1989, 64.
470. Reardon, Aborted Women, 250.
471. Ibid.
472. David Kupelian and Jo Ann Gasper, "Abortion, Inc.," New Dimensions, October 1991, 16.
438. Vincent J. Collins, M.D., Steven R. Zielinski, M.D., and Thomas J. Marzen, Esq., Fetal Pain and Abortion:
The Medical Evidence, Studies in Law & Medicine (Chicago: Americans United for Life Legal Defense Fund, 1984), 8.