Abortion kills one and wounds another.

• 31% of women having abortions report suffering physical health complications.
• 10% of women having abortions suffer immediate, potentially life-threatening complications.
• Women have a 65% higher risk of clinical depression following abortion vs. childbirth.
• 65% of women suffer symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after abortion.
• Women’s death rates from various causes after abortion are 3.5 times higher than after giving birth.
• Many women describe their experience as ‘a nightmare’; 60% of women surveyed after abortion responded that ’part of me died’.
• Suicide rates among women who have abortions are six times higher than those who give birth.
• Abortion increases a woman’s risk of future miscarriages by 60%.

References

Rue et. al., “Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women,” Medical Science Monitor 10(10): SR5-16, 2004.

Frank, et.al., “Induced Abortion Operations and Their Early Sequelae,” Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 35(73):175-180, April 1985.

Grimes and Cates, “Abortion: Methods and Complications”, in Human Reproduction, 2nd ed., 796-813.

M.A. Freedman, “Comparison of complication rates in first trimester abortions performed by physician assistants and physicians,” Am. J. Public Health76(5):550-554, 1986).

JR Cougle et. al., “Depression Associated With Abortion and Childbirth: A Long-Term Analysis of the NLSY Cohort,” Medical Science Monitor 9(4):CR105-112, 2003.

M Gissler et. al., “Pregnancy Associated Deaths in Finland 1987-1994 — definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 76:651-657, 1997.

M. Gissler, “Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000,” European J. Public Health 15(5):459-63, 2005.

Gissler, Hemminki & Lonnqvist, “Suicides after pregnancy in Finland, 1987-94: register linkage study,” British Journal of Medicine 313:1431-4, 1996.

N. Maconochie, P. Doyle, S. Prior, R. Simmons, “Risk factors for first trimester miscarriage—results from a UK-population-based case–control study,” BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Dec 2006.

PETER SAUNDERS.