ProChoice.com
Abortion... When is it safe?
No medical procedure is 100% safe so the answer is never Completely,and less safe than many procedures. To be 100% safe don't have one.
Risks are:
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The below information provides scientific and other documentation that legal abortion, contrary to popular opinion, doesn't help women but hurts them severely and/or kills them.
There are approximately 350 entries linked to below showing how abortion hurts women.
Word-searching can be done by key words. Examples are "infection", "hemorrhage", "chlamydia", "trauma", and "breast cancer". Search without matching case.
In addition, you can also search for categories of how abortion hurts women. These are the categories:
Physical effects, cancer
physical effects, death
physical effects, smoking, drinking, and/or drugs
physical effects, general
physical effects, later complications
general
psychological
suicide
Because many sources are quoted several times, they would take up too much space unless abbreviated. Thus, they have abbreviations.
Abbreviations:
NAIRVSC is Strahan, Newsletter of Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change. NAIRVSC is available from NRL Educational Trust Fund, 419 7th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004, 202 626-8800. MAB is Thomas W. Strahan, ed., "Major Articles and Books Concerning the Detrimental Effects of Abortion" (Charlottesville, VA: The Rutherford Institute, December 1993).
ABSNM is David C. Reardon, Aborted Women: Silent No More (Wheaton, IL: Good News, Crossways Books; Chicago: Loyola University Press). Reardon's address and phone number are Elliot Institute, P.O. Box 7348, Springfield, IL 92791; 217 525 8202
PSSFA is Anne C. Speckhard, "The Psycho-Social Aspects of Stress Following Abortion," (Sheed and Ward: Kansas City, 1987).
Saltenberger means Ann Saltenberger, Every Woman Has a Right to Know the Dangers of Legal Abortion, (Glassboro, NJ: Air- Plus Enterprises, 1982).
TAP is Pamela Zekman & Pamela Warrick, "The Abortion Profiteers: Nurse to Aide: Fake That Pulse!" Chicago Sun-Times, November 1978, quoted in Saltenberger, 168-170.
JAMA is Journal of the American Medical Association.
Other notes about citations:
When quotes extend beyond one paragraph, the source is given at the end of the last paragraph.
If a paragraph includes information from several sources, citations are given at the various places within the paragraph. Those not at the end are placed in parentheses.
If you feel you have been injured by an abortion and might want to take legal action, call
American Rights Coalition at 800 634 2224.
Now the actual material on abortion hurting women begins.
A Planned Parenthood brochure entitled PLAN YOUR CHILDREN for Health and Happiness says, "An abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health. It may make you sterile so that when you want a child you cannot have it."
Physical Effects: General Physical Problems
001) From Dayton Women's Health Center, Iowa: "Mary was rushed to the hospital after her abortion due to profuse bleeding. The attending physicians discovered 'the entire front of her uterus was blown away.' After the surgeon removed the damaged uterus, they explored her abdominal cavity. Behind her liver they found the decapitated head of a 24 week old pre-born child."
002) Researcher George Grant says, "'There are a lot more complications out there than anyone seems to care to believe,' says Dean. 'It is a national health disaster'" George Grant, Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1984) 66.
003) "Although Planned Parenthood stubbornly refuses to admit publicly that such a disaster exists, privately it is quite concerned." George Grant, Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1984) 66.
004) Researcher Doug Scott says, "Dr. Beverly McMillen, a former abortionist from Jackson, Mississippi, notes that Planned Parenthood claims of few complications are unreliable. 'Planned Parenthood clinics, and free-standing abortion clinics like them, claim they have an untarnished record of no complications from their abortion procedures, but what they don't know is that I'm the practitioner who sees their complications. These women don't go back to the clinic where they've had a bad experience. They show up in my office or in my emergency room with their bleeding or with their infections or with their retained placenta, needing another D&C.'" "A Close Look at Planned Parenthood," Focus on the Family radio program, 27-27 October 1989, quoted in Douglas R. Scott, Inside Planned Parenthood, (Grand Rapid, MI: Frontlines Publishing, 1990) 86. They show up in my office, or in my emergency room with their bleeding or with their infections or with their retained placenta . . .
005) Quoting Saltenberger again, below are just a very few excerpts from her list of complications:
006) "'Infection is the main cause of death associated with legal abortion in the United States.' (D. A. Grimes & W. Cates, "Complications from Legally-Induced Abortion: A Review," Ob Gyn Survey, 1979, 177-91, quoted in Saltenberger, 29.) Infection was the leading cause of abortion-related deaths of 104 women in a CDC report. (A. M. Kimball et al., "Deaths caused by Pulmonary Thromboembolism After Legally Induced Abortion, " American Journal Ob & Gyn, 15 September 1978, 169-74, quoted in Saltenberger 29.) In another study 'documented incomplete abortion caused each of the four deaths from infection.'" D. A. Grimes, et al., "Comparative Risk of Death from Legally Induced Abortion in Hospitals and Non- Hospital Facilities," Ob & Gyn, March 1978, 323-26, quoted in Saltenberger, 29."
007) Researcher Kogut says, "Physical damage to the mother is also very common. There are several reasons we don't hear much about this. First, most abortions are done in clinics whose records are insufficiently inspected. When a complication occurs, the clinics really have no incentive to turn themselves in. Second, deaths from abortion generally are not reported as deaths from abortion. Rather, the death might be from a perforated (punctured) uterus or internal bleeding. Thus, abortion seems safe." Kenneth E. Kogut, The Facts of Pro-Life, n.p., 64.
008) Following is a long list of the physical damages that can occur as a result of abortions: death, infection, hemorrhage, cervical damage, damage and loss of other internal organs, perforation of the uterus, menstrual irregularity, headaches, dizziness, blood clots, AIDS from blood transfusions, AIDS or Hepatitis from increased drug and needle use (see list below of psychological damages showing increased drug use), increased probability of future miscarriages, stillbirths, sterility, ectopic (tubal)
pregnancies, menstrual disturbances, other bleeding, shock, coma, peritonitis, cold sweats, and much more." Kenneth E. Kogut, The Facts of Pro-Life, n.p., 64.
009) A Wynn and Wynn Study shows that 3 - 5 percent of aborters are left sterile. (Both of the Wynns are pro-abortion.) Arthur Wynn and Margaret Wynn, "Some Consequences of Induced Abortion to Children Born Subsequently," British Med. Journal, 3 March 1973.
010) From a David Reardon flyer of 1986:
"47% Of women in a study stated that they had suffered one or more physical complications following their abortions.
31% Of these stated the complication was very minor and 26% Said it was of a moderate nature, and 35% Said it was very severe.
Of short-term complications: 15% Reported post-operative hemorrhage and 9% Reported infection. Post-operative infections are frequently the result of an incomplete abortion and must be treated by a second operation.
Of long-term, delayed complications: 6% Required a total hysterectomy 8% Reported total or partial blockage of fallopian tubes 6% Got cervical cancer 22% Later had a miscarriage of a wanted child 8% Were diagnosed as suffering from cervical incompetence" (These were random samples, not a poll of all the women.)
011) Famous pro-life leader, Jack Willke, says, "A busy chief of an OB department in Ft. Lauderdale reported, 'An unusually large number of complications are being seen by private physicians. Because many of these adolescent patients, in who complications develop, do not return to the physician who did the abortion, accurate data on complications are difficult to obtain.'" M. Bulfin, "A New Problem in Adolescent Gynecology," Southern Med. Journal, August 1979, quoted in Dr. Jack Willke and Barbara Willke, Abortion: Questions & Answers, (Cincinnati, OH: Hayes Publishing Company, 1988) 96.
012) "According to renowned obstetrician and gynecologist Matthew Bulfin, the reason that . . .estimated figures are so skewed is that Planned Parenthood and the various other agencies that measure maternal complication rates are 'missing vital input for their mortality and morbidity studies by not seeking information from the physicians who see the complications from legal abortions--emergency room physicians and the obstetricians and gynecologists in private practice. The physicians who do the
abortions, and the clinics and centers where abortions are done should not be the only sources from which complication statistics are derived.'" Matthew J. J. Bulfin, "Complications of Legal Abortion: A Perspective from Private Practice," quoted in George Grant, Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood, (Highland Books, 1998) 84.
013) "The so-called 'freestanding clinics,' which do over 90% of all abortions in the U.S., are often little better than back-alley operations that have been legalized . . . .' Complications following abortions performed in free-standing clinics is one of the most frequent gynecological emergencies . . .encountered. Even life-endangering complications rarely come to the attention of the physician who performed the abortion unless the incident entails litigation. The statistics presented by Cates represent
substantial under reporting and disregard women's reluctance to return to a clinic, where, in their mind, they received inadequate treatment.'" Iffy, "Second trimester Abortions," JAMA, 4 February 1983, 588, quoted in Willke, 98, 99.
014) Researcher David Reardon says about abortion for fetal handicap: "In addition, since eugenic abortions are almost always late-term, the physical risks of abortion are many times higher than for childbirth. In fact, the odds that a forty-year-old woman will suffer a severe complication from abortion are more than twice as great as the odds that she will have a child with Down's syndrome."
Dr. Hymie Gordon, letter on amniocentesis in Primum Non Nocere, newsletter published by The World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, September 1980, 4-6, quoted in DRABSNM, 236. (Down's babies are found mostly in wombs of these 'older' women.)
015) Miscellaneous quotes (Pamela Zekman and Pamela Warrick, "The Abortion Profiteers," Chicago Sun Times, special reprint 3, December 1978 (original publication 12 November, 1978) 15, quoted in DRABSNM, 236.) 'Health inspectors at one abortion clinic found that the lack of sterile conditions extended to:
016) Instruments that were 'dirty and worn to the point that the stainless-steel finish had deteriorated and the instruments were beginning to rust.' 'Recovery room beds made with dirty linens.' 'Supposedly sterile instruments' encrusted with 'dried matter.' 'Instruments being 'sterilized' with Tide detergent, and surgical equipment, including the suction machine, being 'cleansed' with plain water."
017) "A 1989-90 New Zealand study found an overall complication rate of 5.8% following induced abortion as measured by readmission of women. This included 2.9% who had retained products of conception. Immediate complications (0.92%) included perforation, hemorrhage and post-operative pain. Delayed complications were lower abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding presumed to be due to endometritis, retained products of conception or both." P. Sykes, "Complications of Termination of
Pregnancy: A Retrospective Study of Admissions to Christchurch Women's Hospital 1989 and 1990," New Zealand Medical Journal, 10 March 1993, 83-85.
018) "A follow-up examination 4-6 weeks following abortion by vacuum aspiration found 4.8% with retained fetal parts: 11.1% had post-abortion bleeding greater than normal menstrual period, and 4.1% had pelvic inflammatory disease." K. Dalaker, K. Sundfor and J. Skuland, "Early Complications of Induced Abortion in Primigravidae," Annes Chirurgiae et Gynaecologiae, 70 (1981): 331-336.
019) "A Norwegian study of 619 women by questionnaire in 1976 found that, among those not pregnant previously, 25.5% of the post-abortion women compared to 13.2% of post delivery women (matched for age and parity) had post-abortion complications. Complications were cervical incompetence, pre-term delivery, ectopic pregnancy and sterility. Among all groups regardless of parity, total complications in the abortion group was 24.3% vs. 20.2% in the post-delivery women." K. Dalaker, S.M. Lichtenberg and G. Okland, "Delayed Reproductive Complications After Induced Abortion," Acta Obstet. Gynaecol. Scand., 58 (1979): 491-494.
020) "A prospective study of 11,057 West Jerusalem mothers interviewed during pregnancy found that those who reported one or more prior induced abortions in the past were more likely to report bleeding in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd months of their pregnancy compared with women reporting no previously induced abortions. Women with prior abortions were less likely to have a normal delivery. In births following induced abortions, the relative risk of early neonatal death was doubled, while late neonatal deaths showed a 3 to 4 fold increase. Major and minor malformations were increased in the abortion group." S. Harlap and A.M. Davies, "Late Sequelae of Induced Abortion: Complications and Outcome of Pregnancy and Labor," Am J. Epidemiology, 1975, 217.
021) "Among 50 women (86% black) who obtained legal abortions in Atlanta, Georgia after being denied abortion at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1978-79, 12% subsequently reported at least one complication including retained placenta, hemorrhage, pelvic infection or cervical or uterine injury when followed-up in 1980-81." N. Binkin, et al., "Women Refused Second-Trimester Abortion: Correlates of Pregnancy Outcome," Am.J. Obstet Gynecol, 145 (1983): 279.
022) "Bleeding before 28 weeks of gestation and retention of placenta or placental tissue occurred more frequently after an abortion than in a control group matched for age, parity and socioeconomic status." E. Obel, "Pregnancy Complications Following Legally Induced Abortion," acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand., 58 (1979): 485-490.
023) "Concludes that the relative risk of pre-term delivery is significantly increased following abortion." R. Pickering and J. Forbes, "Risks of Preterm Delivery and Small for Gestational Age Infants Following Abortion: A Population Study," British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 92 (Nov. 1985): 1106-1112.
024) "Fifty-four teenage patients were seen with significant complications after legal abortion. None felt that they had been afforded any meaningful information about the potential dangers of the abortion operation. Perforation of the uterus, peritonitis, pelvic pain, pelvic abscesses, bleeding and cramping, cervical lacerations, severe hemorrhage and adverse psychological and psychiatric sequelae were noted in various case reports." M. Bulfin, "A New Problem in Adolescent Gynecology," Southern Medical Journal, 72(8) (August 1979): 967-968.
025) "In a study of 1000 women who had abortions in Stockholm, Sweden in 1987, 5.4% were reported to have complications in the form of infection, bleeding or incomplete abortion, fever at over 38 degrees centigrade (1.6%). About one-half (2.8%) were re-admitted to the hospital." G. Fried, E. Ostlund, C. Ullberg, M. Bygdeman" Somatic Complications and Contraceptive Techniques Following Legal Abortion, " Acta Obstet Scand., 68 (1989): 515-521.
026) "In a study of 252 women who were members of Women Exploited by Abortion, two women were reported to suffer from anorexia nervosa, which they attributed to their abortions. At least one woman suffered from excessive weight gain after her abortion, as she tried to bury her guilt in food." ABSNM, 24.
027) "In a study of 30 women who were stressed by abortion, 23 percent reported extreme weight gain, generally defined by the subjects as a 20-pound weight gain or more. Extreme weight gain was usually attributed to increased eating to calm oneself. Extreme weight loss was reported by 30 percent of the sample; 23 percent classified themselves as experiencing a period of anorexia nervosa. This was self-defined, although many subjects reporting anorexia included evidence such as a loss of 25 percent of body weight, cessation of menses, hospitalization and/or clinical diagnosis of anorexia nervosa." PSSFA
028) "In a study of 68 women in a post abortion support group 10-15 years post-abortion, 32% reported lacking patience with their children, 29% reported sometimes being verbally or emotionally abusive with them, 20% acknowledged frequent anger toward their children, 15% admitted feelings of unexpected rage toward their children and 13% felt they over disciplined their children, “ 29% also
reported being over-protective of their children and 14.7% reported having difficulty bonding to their children." Jeanette Vought, "Post-Abortion Trauma, 9 Steps to Recovery," (Grand Rapids: Zondervan 1991).
029) "Induced first-trimester abortion is a procedure which removes the conceptus from the uterine cavity before the end of the twelfth gestational week counted from the first day of the last menstrual period. The surgical field, consisting of the vagina, endocervix, and uterine cavity is contaminated because even meticulous surgical scrub cannot sterilize the endocervix. Consequently, postoperative infection must be expected in a number of women." Lars Heisterberg, "Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Following Induced First-Trimester Abortion," Danish Medical Bulletin, 35(1) (February 1988), 64-75, quoted in N.G. Osborne and R.C. Wright, "Effect of preoperative scrub on the bacterial flora of the endocervix and vagina," Obstetrics and Gynecology 50:148-151(1977).
030) "PA British study of 6105 women during 1976-79 found that the main factors independently affecting post abortion morbidity were the place of operation, gestation at termination, method of operation, sterilization at the time of abortion and smoking habits. Morbidity rates were higher for abortion carried out under the National Health Service than in private practice. Overall newly presenting morbidity, as defined in the study, was reported in 16.9% of the patients (1031 patients) in the 21 days following abortion of which 10% (612 patients) was thought to be directly related to the abortion. Major complications as defined in the study were 2.1%." I. Frank, C.R. Kay, S.S. Wingrave, "Induced Abortions Operations and Their Early Sequelae," J. Royal College General Practitioners, April 1985, 175.
031) "The rate of unrecognized perforations may be three-to-thirty-fold higher than reported." C. Tietze and S. Lewit, "Joint Program for the Study of Abortion," Studies in Family Planning, 3 (1972): 97.
After reading the above you should have a clear understanding that abortion is an unique procedure, in that, it is the only 'medical procedure' that gives special protection to those who perform it. Making those who profit from abortion safer and legally protected from the problems documented above.. This clearly defines for all, what it means to keep abortion safe and legal. As an industry, it operates with very little regulation or scrutiny and is continually lobbying for less.
If you like to be operated on in 3rd
world countries
but pay a civilized world price, this is for you.
Unlike bias industry claims, (that abortion is safer
than child birth,) according to a (non politically motivated) study
in finland, a woman is 4 times more likely to die within 1 year of an
abortion than childbirth.
(More
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Overview of some risks sighting sources
Information from an attorney proving findings
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