So many times we hear abortion defined as a "safe, simple, and legal medical procedure". Unfortunately, it's not as safe nor simple as the majority of people today would like to think. Whether you believe it was by God or by nature, a woman's body was designed to carry and protect the developing fetus for nine months. This means that to invade her uterus and to expel the fetus out before her body is ready would be an extremely unnatural process. Due to this factor, there's bound to be some problems. Read the horrifying facts below, and decide for yourself if abortion is really so "safe and simple".
Between 1-out-of-7 to 1-out-of-100 women require a blood transfusion due to bleeding from an abortion.
About 1-out-of-20 women can suffer a laceration of the cervix. This means that a woman has a 50/50 chance of miscarrying her next pregnancy if it is not treated properly.
Perforation of the uterus occurs between 1-out-of-40 to 1-out-of-400 abortions. If the uterus is perforated, the bowel can also be perforated. So can the urinary bladder. Other studies show that 2-3% of women who have an abortion will suffer from a perforated uterus.
A woman who has an abortion is twice more likely to have a premature birth in her next pregancy.
97% of women who had abortions reported experiencing pain during the procedure; more than 1/3 said it was "intense" and "severe". Researchers have rated the pain of abortion more painful than a bone fracture and about the same as cancer pain.
Of all pregnant women who have a chylamydia infection during the time of their abortions, 23% will develop Pelvic Inflammatory Disease within 4 weeks.
Teenage girls who have abortions are 2.5 times more likely than older women to suffer from endometritis after an abortion.
10% of women who have abortions will suffer immediate complications; 1/5 of these are considered life threatening. Just some examples of immediate complications are infection, embolism, perforation of the uterus, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endotoxic shock.
A woman who as an abortion is 8 to 20 times more likely to conceive an ectopic pregnancy.
An "incomplete abortion" can occur, meaning pieces of the fetus, placenta, umbilical cord or amniotic sac can be left in the uterus after the abortion is over, causing severe infection and possibly death.
DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulopathy) can occur after an abortion, meaning severe rapid bleeding. Life threatening and difficult to treat, it occurs in 2 out of 1,000 second trimester abortions
Breast cancer has risen by 50% in America since abortion became legal in 1973. Women who have aborted have significantly higher rates of breast cancer in later life. When a woman's body is pregnant, there is a high increase of hormones and cells in her breasts. When the pregnancy is halted to a stop in an unnatural process like abortion, these cells have nowhere to go and can become cancerous. The risk of breast cancer increases even more with 2 or more abortions. Studies show that the risk of breast cancer increases 50% for women under age 45 who have had an abortion, and for women under 18, the risk increases by 800%.
Abortion is 4 times more dangerous than childbirth, and women who abort are 4 times more likely to die within a year than women who carry their pregnancies to term. Death is more likely if abortion is performed after 3 months gestation.
Placenta previa, in which the placenta lies over the exit from the uterus so that the placenta has to be delivered before the baby can get out, is 6 to 15 times more likely after an abortion.
Over 300 women have died from LEGAL abortion since 1973.
2-5% of abortions leave a woman sterile.
Abortion not only hurts women physically but emotionally as well. Women who abort can suffer from guilt, flashbacks, long-term grief, anger, sexual dysfunction, memory repression, suicide, hallucination, relationship problems, nightmares, etc.
Legal abortion is reported as the fifth leading cause of maternal death in the United States, though in fact it is recognized that most abortion related deaths are not officially reported as such.
25% of women who abort suffer from complications in later pregnancies (stillbirths, premature deliveries, miscarriage, and fetal deformities).
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REFERENCES
Zhou, Weijin, et. al., "Induced Abortion and Subsequent Pregnancy Duration," Obstetrics & Gynecology 94(6):948-953 (Dec. 1999).
Hilgers et al., "Fertility Problems Following an Aborted First Pregnancy." New Perspectives on Human Abortion, University Publications of America, 1981. W. Cates et al., Amer. Jour. OB/GYN, vol. 132, p. 169 L. Talbert, Univ. of NC, "DIC More Common Threat with Use of Saline Abortion," Family Practice News, vol. 5, no. 19, Oct. 1975
U.S. Dept. H.H.S., Morbitity & Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 33, no. 15, April 20, 1984 Rubin et al., "Fatal Ectopic Pregnancy After Attempted Induced Abortion," JAMA, vol. 244, no. 15, Oct. 10, 1980 Panayotou et al., "Induced Abortion & Ectopic Preg." Am J. OB-GYN, 1972 114:507
Kaunitz, "Causes of Maternal Mortality in the United States," Obstetrics and Gynecology, 65(5) May 1985.
Ney, et.al., "The Effects of Pregnancy Loss on Women's Health," Soc. Sci. Med. 48(9):1193-1200, 1994; Badgley, Caron, & Powell, Report of the Committee on the Abortion Law, Supply and Services, Ottawa, 1997: 319-321.
