For years abortion advocates and researchers have been asserting that an abortion is in fact safer than carrying a pregnancy to term. They contend that pregnancy is a long process and the chance of complications during the gestational period and birth is significantly higher than complications resulting from the abortion procedure.
However, a study released this past week demonstrates that this claim is not entirely valid. New research, which takes into account the full reproductive histories of the women involved, illustrates that, compared to women who delivered their babies, women who had an early- or late-term abortion have significantly higher mortality rates within one to ten years of the event.
In contrast with a 2012 study conducted by researchers from Gynuity Health Projects and the University of North Carolina – which asserts that women are 14 times more likely to die delivering a live baby than from complications of an abortion, this study, which links up all relevant reproductive health data, found that death rates associated with birth were lower than those associated with early-term abortion, late-term abortion, and miscarriage in every year over a 10-year period. The data demonstrates that an abortion prior to 12 weeks is associated with 80% higher risk of death within the first year after the procedure and a 40% higher risk of death over 10 years.
Though abortion advocates frequently assert the safety of the abortion procedure and downplay the risks, the physiological and psychological complications are documented and numerous. Immediate health risks include uterine perforation, cervical lacerations, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis, and death. Abortion also puts a woman’s future pregnancies in jeopardy as it places her at elevated risk for pre-term delivery, placenta previa, and ectopic pregnancy.
