Abortion Fact Sheet
LEGAL ABORTION IS NOT "SAFE" ABORTION
The Los Angeles Times reported that California abortion clinics used instruments that were not sterilized, untrained people assisted in operations, clinics refused to employ registered nurses or trained assistants and other violations.
P. Warrick, “Watching a watchdog,” Los Angeles Times, 31 January 31, 1993, pp. E1, E2.
At an international population conference, a World Health Organization (WHO) official — Dr. Gunta Lazdane, the European regional adviser to WHO on reproductive health and research — admitted that legal abortions are not safe for women: “Up to 20 percent of maternal deaths are due to abortion; even in those situations where abortion is legal there is a question whether ‘safe' abortion is safe.” Lazdane's statement is contrary to the WHO's regular claim that legal abortion is safe, and only illegal abortions are unsafe.
(2004, May), LifeNews Pro-Life Report #3266.
In the year 2000, 11 American women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion. No deaths were associated with known illegal abortion.
L. Strauss, J. Herndon, J. Chang, W. Parker, S. Bowens, S. Zane, and C. Berg, “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2001,” Division of Reproductive Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
The most frequent Adverse Event Reports related to RU-486 in a study were hemorrhage (one fatality, 42 life threatening, 168 serious cases, 68 blood transfusions); infections (three fatal cases of septic shock and four life threatening), including 43 cases requiring parenteral antibiotics; surgical interventions (513); ectopic pregnancies (11 ruptured). The most common fatal adverse event is sepsis. The U.S. clinical trial demonstrated a failure rate of eight percent at 49 days or less from last menstrual period (LMP), 17 percent at 50-56 days from LMP and 23 percent at 57-63 days from LMP, as established by sonographic criteria. Clinics regularly advertise mifepristone use up to 63 days from LMP.
Gary and D. Harrison, Analysis of Severe Adverse Events Related to the Use of Mifepristone as an Abortifacient. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 40 (2006, February), pp. 1, 4, 5.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged the deaths of eight women associated with the drug mifepristone. Five of the deaths following the use of RU-486 have been the result of a toxic shock-like syndrome initiated by the bacteria Clostridium Sordellii. This bacteria is thought to exist in low numbers in the reproductive tracts of many women, and is normally combated by the immune system. Experts in immunology, pharmacology and maternal-fetal medicine have suggested that because RU-486 interferes with the immune response, the bacteria, if present, is allowed to flourish, causing a widespread, multi-organ infection in the woman. The infections are not accompanied by a fever, and symptoms match those that are expected after taking the RU-486 regimen (cramping, pain, bleeding, nausea, vomiting). Each of the women infected with C. Sordellii after RU-486 were dead within 5-7 days. The rapid growth of the C. Sordellii bacteria likely forecloses effective treatment, and there is no currently identifiable opportunity for treatment once a woman is infected, even with major interventions such as hysterectomy. The fatality rate has been 100 percent for the women who contracted C. Sordellii infection after RU-486.
U.S. Representative Mark Souder, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, Memorandum calling for Hearing entitled “RU-486 - Demonstrating a Low Standard for Women's Health?” May 17, 2006 . Statement of Janet Woodcock, Deputy Commissioner for operations, Food and drug administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, RU-486: Demonstrating a Low Standard for Women's Health?” Before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of representatives, May 17, 2006.
Italy 's Health Minister suspended Italy 's experimental trials of the dangerous RU-486 abortion drug in 2005. The suspension resulted after a hospital in Turin began testing the controversial drug. He made the decision to halt the trials because reports had surfaced showing one in 20 women taking the abortion drugs were having partial abortions at home followed by excessive bleeding. He said the health risks combined with the illegality of abortions not being performed in a hospital prompted him to shut down the experiment.
Steve Ertelt, (2005, September 23), "Italy Health Minister Stops RU-486 Abortion Drug Trials After Problems," LifeNews.
New Jersey health officials are not inspecting abortion clinics in that state regularly, apparently because they don't have the resources or the manpower. In one case, an abortion facility was not inspected for five years, and when inspectors finally visited, they found numerous, often morbid, violations, which led to the clinic losing its license and shutting down. Alternatives, in Atlantic City, was cited for multiple health violations in a 116-page report released through the state's Department of Health and Senior Services. Some of the key violations spelled out in the report include the presence of blood under operating tables, expired drugs and rusty IV poles.
Kevin Mooney, “After 5 Years Without Inspection, Abortion Clinic Closed,” Cybercast News Service. October 1, 2007.
A major random study found that a minimum of 19 percent of post-abortion women suffer from diagnosable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Approximately half had many, but not all, symptoms of PTSD, and 20 to 40 percent showed moderate to high levels of stress and avoidance behavior relative to their abortion experiences.
C. Barnard, The Long-Term Psychological Effects of Abortion (Portsmouth, N.H.: Institute for Pregnancy Loss, 1990).
Government-funded abortions have resulted in higher rates of health complications than privately- financed abortions.
C. Tietze and S. Lewit, “Joint Program for the Study of Abortion (JPSA): Early Medical Complications of Legal Abortion,” Studies in Family Planning 3, No. 6 (1971).
A group of doctors in Australia urged members of the nation's parliament not to approve the dangerous RU-486 abortion drug. Australians Against RU-486, an ad hoc group created to oppose a vote by Parliament on the controversial drug, released a letter from 86 doctors who said the risks associated with the pills is “unacceptable. Given recent evidence in the United States , including the deaths of at least 11 women and a mortality rate 10 times that of surgical abortion, we believe that RU-486 poses a significant medical risk to Australian women.”
Steve Ertelt, ( 2006, February 7). Doctors Urge Australia Parliament to Not Approve RU 486 Abortion Drug. Life News.
Women with one abortion face 2.3 times the risk of cervical cancer, compared to non-abortive women, and women with two or more abortions face 4.92 the risk of non-abortive women. Similar elevated risks of ovarian and liver cancer have also been linked to single and multiple abortions. These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women are apparently linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage.
“Abortion Facts and Your Concerns,” AAA Pregnancy Options.
Norma McCorvey, alias “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade fame, worked at abortion clinics. She described the typical clinic as having plaster and light fixtures falling from the ceiling, rat droppings in the sinks, backed up sinks and blood splattered on the walls. Rooms were never cleaned up. Sanitary conditions were so bad that one abortionist worked shirtless and shoeless. McCorvey said, “Veterinary clinics I have seen are cleaner and more regulated than the abortion clinics I worked in.”
Affidavit of Norma McCorvey to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, June 17, 2003 . The Smoking Gun. S. Ertelt, McCorvey Asks Court to Overturn Roe Case, Life.
Dr. Daniel Martin, a clinical instructor at St. Louis University Medical School , said, "The impact of abortion on the body of a woman who chooses abortion is great and always negative. I can think of no beneficial effect of a social abortion on a body."
Daniel J. Martin, M.D., "The Impact of Legal Abotion on Women's Minds and Bodies," paper presented at the "Human Life and Health Care Ethics" national conference, April, 1993.
“[W]e were seeing a tremendous amount of complications. We were maiming at least one woman a month."
Carol Everett, the former owner of Texas abortion clinics
In 2001, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment that recognizes the existence of “post-abortion depression and post-abortion psychosis.”
U.S. Senate, Congressman Joseph Pitts, Pennsylvania, speaking in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Post-Abortion Depression Research and Care Act, August 2, 2001.
“Abortionists are still the washouts and losers of medicine. Abortionists are the bottom-feeders of the medical profession and abortion procedures jeopardize the health of the mother in order to terminate pregnancy … The medical community has never accepted abortion as a respectable part of mainstream medicine. … Abortion clinics and doctors who perform abortion are facing an onslaught of medical malpractice lawsuits. And, as one would expect, the poor medical skills and lack of ethics that drive doctors into the abortion business naturally cause higher rates of medical malpractice to be associated with those who perform abortions.”
Mark Crutcher, President, Life Dynamics
“I know that there are short- and long-term adverse effects of abortion psychologically on women … there is no doubt in my mind that problems exist.”
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, interview with The Rutherford Institute
“As the host of eight documentaries on the subject of abortion, I have met many other women who carry these deep psychological scars. In fact, I have met so many that I now believe that there are only two kinds of women who have had abortions: those who have hit the emotional wall and those who will.”
Jane Chastain, columnist and radio host
“The most common, immediate, and short-term complications include excessive bleeding, chronic and acute infections, intense pain, high fever, convulsions, shock, coma, incomplete removal of the baby or placenta (which can cause life-threatening infections and sterility), pelvic inflammatory disease, punctured or torn uteruses, and even death. Abortion can also result in uterine scarring, a weakened cervix, blocked fallopian tubes, and other damage to reproductive organs that can make it difficult to conceive or carry a child to term in the future. This latent morbidity of abortion results in long-term and sometimes permanent damage. Women who have had abortions also experience more ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, infertility, hysterectomies, stillbirths, miscarriages, and premature births (the leading cause of birth defects) than women who have not had abortions. Abortion has also been linked to increased risks of developing breast, cervical, and uterine cancer.”
Beverly McMillan, M.D.
“Before 1973, women could resist an unwanted abortion on the grounds that it was illegal and unsafe. But now people assume that since abortion is legal, it must be safe. That makes it harder for women to resist unwanted abortions for health or safety reasons. As a result, the number of abortions has increased ten- to fifteen-fold with only a minimal improvement, if any, in safety. So, while the percentage of deaths from hemorrhage and infections may have gone down, the actual number of women suffering these complications has gone up far more. In addition, since psychological complications are even more common than physical complications, the number of women experiencing complications of one type or another has increased dramatically.”
Beverly McMillan, M.D.
Dr. Hanna Söderberg, the lead author of a study, conducted interviews with women one year after their abortions. Her research team found that approximately 60 percent of the women in their sample of 854 women had experienced emotional distress after their abortions. This distress was classified as “severe,” warranting professional psychiatric attention, among 16 percent of the women. The research team noted that over 70 percent of the women stated that they would never consider an abortion again if they faced an unwanted pregnancy.
H. Söderberg, C. Andersson, L. Janzon and N. Sjöberg. Selection bias in a study on how women experienced induced abortion. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 77 (1998): 67-70. H. Söderberg, L. Janzon N. Sjöberg. (1998). Emotional distress following induced abortion: A study of its incidence and determinants among abortees in Malmo , Sweden . European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology (1998): 173-178.
Women who have had abortions are significantly more likely than others to subsequently require admission to a psychiatric hospital. At especially high risk are teenagers, separated or divorced women and women with a history of more than one abortion.
R. Somers, “Risk of Admission to Psychiatric Institutions Among Danish Women who Experienced Induced Abortion: An Analysis on National Record Linkage,” Dissertation Abstracts International, Public Health 2621-B, Order No. 7926066 (1979); H. David, et al., “Postpartum and Post-abortion Psychotic Reactions,” Family Planning Perspectives 13 (1981): 88-91.
Since the legalization of abortion, the number of ectopic pregnancies has increased four-fold.
“Ectopic Pregnancy-United States, 1987,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 39 (June 22, 1990): 401-404.
Women with one abortion face an elevated risk of 2.3 times for getting cervical cancer, compared to non-aborted women, and women with two or more abortions face an elevated risk of 4.92 times compared to non-aborted women. Similar elevated risks of ovarian and liver cancer have also been linked to single and multiple abortions. These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women are apparently linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage.
“Abortion Facts and Your Concerns,” AAA Pregnancy Options
Young teenagers undergoing abortions appeared to be more susceptible than older women to cervical injury.
Willard Cates, “The Risks Associated with Teenage Abortion,” New England Journal of Medicine 309(11) (1983): 612-624.
A large number of employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have ties to the abortion industry, and statistics on abortion-related problems have been manipulated. The CDC has worked to reduce medical opposition to abortion.
Mark Crutcher, “Lime 5: Exploited by Choice,” p. 135
Deaths related to abortion are often missed by the CDC coding system used by the National Center for Health Statistics. These deaths are sometimes brought to the attention of the CDC through state medical associations, reports from federal agencies, private sources and published case histories. The CDC is then supposed to investigate them by obtaining information from state health agencies, the attending physician at the time of death or the abortion provider, medical examiners' reports, police reports, trial transcripts and the family of the deceased. Many times, case investigations are impeded because there is not enough information available to draw conclusions about a death.
Mark Crutcher, “Lime 5: Exploited by Choice,” p. 137. Dr. Richard Selik, Dr. Willard Cates Jr. and Dr. Carl Tyler Jr., Behavioral Factors Contributing to Abortion Deaths: A New Approach to Mortality Studies,” Obstetrics and Bynecology, Vo. 58, No. 5, November 1981.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 26 deaths associated with legal abortion in 1979 and 1980. Eleven deaths associated with abortion were reported for 1981. For 1988-1992, 54 maternal deaths related to legal induced abortion were reported; for 1993-1997, 36 such deaths were reported. In 1998 and 1999, a total of 14 maternal deaths related to legal induced abortion were reported. During 2001-2002, 15 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion, and one death was associated with known illegal abortion.
Surveillance Summary Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Analysis, 1979-1980 -- United States , CDC, Feb. 11, 1983. Current Trends Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Analysis -- United States, 1981, CDC, July 6, 1984. Abortion Surveillance Fact Sheet, CDC, June 7, 2002. CDC Fact Sheet, Nov. 28, 2003. Abortion Surveillance --- United States , 2003, CDC, Nov. 24, 2006.
FINDINGS OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA TASK FORCE ON ABORTION, 2005
The National Center for Health Statistics provides maternal mortality information and the Center for Disease Control provides abortion mortality statistics. Planned Parenthood cites statistics issued by the CDC to claim that "the risk of dying from a full-term pregnancy and childbirth is at least seven times greater than that from early abortion." The South Dakota Task Force on Abortion rejected this statistic to be both false and very dangerous for women who rely upon it. CDC statistics are not a reliable basis for determining death rates due to abortion, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stated that their statistics should not be used for that purpose. These statistics grossly understate death due to abortion for a variety of reasons. CDC is not funded, or under any mandate, to obtain comprehensive and accurate data on deaths due to abortion. The limited data it does supply is not intended to be used the way Planned Parenthood uses it.
The statistics for maternal mortality rates issued by the National Center for Health Statistics cannot be compared with the incomplete statistics for death due to abortion issued by the CDC because the standards and methods of data collection used by these two systems are very different. The Department of Health considers the data on death due to maternity as highly reliable, while the data from the CDC concerning death due to abortion is unreliable and grossly understated.
Specifically, when a death is violent, a recent abortion is virtually never mentioned. The CDC confines the definition of maternal death to those occurring during pregnancy or within six weeks of the termination of pregnancy. In addition, coding rule 12 of the ICD-9 requires deaths due to medical and surgical treatments be reported under the complication of the procedure (e.g., infection) rather than the treatment (e.g., elective abortion). Thus, complications from abortion that result in death – even though the abortion was a competent and significant contributing factor, are not included in the statistics relating to death due to abortion.
Third, the number of maternal deaths is substantially underestimated if death certificates alone are used to identify deaths, as is usually the case in reporting to the CDC. The CDC admits that death certificates that they rely upon do not usually give the cause of death, and it is clear that when abortion causes death, it is virtually never on a death certificate. A research study from Finland revealed that death certificates revealed only 6 percent of all abortion-related deaths. Based upon that study, deaths due to abortion may be 16 times greater than deaths reported based upon death certificates. CDC statistics do not include the vast majority of deaths due to abortions because they do not include deaths from suicide, deaths from physical complications from abortions, and deaths due to any of the cancers in which abortions may be a significant contributing factor.
Studies not relying on the above sources of data, have shown a higher risk of death associated with abortion compared to childbirth.
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