Abortion - increases risk for subsequent births

For a long time, researchers have noted a link between a woman having an abortion and subsequent pregnancies having an increased risk of premature birth and lower birth weight.

Now Canadian researcher Dr. Prakesh Shah, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, has conducted a 'a meta-analysis', looking at 37 published studies on the subject.

Life News reports:

"Shah's analysis found women who have just one abortion in either the first or second trimester of pregnancy have a 35 percent increased risk of having a low-birth-weight baby in the next pregnancy and a 36 percent increased risk of having a baby born prematurely.

Women having multiple abortions have a 93 percent increased risk of subsequently having a premature baby and a 72 percent increased risk of having an underweight baby."

Brent Rooney told Life News that the Shah meta-study showed "very strong evidence [that] the most common induced abortion procedure, 'suction' abortion" has a "risk of a later preterm birth or the low birth weight baby."
Rooney has also conducted research into the incidence of cerebral palsy - more common in pre-term babies - and the link to prior abortions.

Life News wrote "Rooney agrees with Shah that "women should receive informed medical consent about the abortion-premature birth risk of prior induced abortions before the procedure is performed.""

But what did those promoting abortion propose?

Not less abortions - but making abortion "safer" ... and that medical abortions - such as RU 486 - instead of surgical 'suction' abortions could be used instead... 

The Times report noted "Professor Philip Steer, editor-in-chief of BJOG, said: "This study highlights the need to assess and improve techniques in order to make termination of pregnancy safer for women."

The article also said "The authors of the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, stress that further studies are needed to assess the impact of new ways of carrying out an abortion, such as non-invasive treatments where women take a combination of pills to trigger a miscarriage." 

Read another Christian report at Christian Concern For Our Nation in the UK.