5 Ways Legalizing Abortion Harms, Doesn't Protect, Women

Following on the heels of the Irish vote to overturn constitutional protections for unborn children, a bill in Argentina could legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, while Northern Ireland is also facing pressure to overturn its abortion ban.

Abortion advocates claim that abortion is needed to protect the lives and well-being of women. But in truth, legalizing abortion will mean abandoning and harming mothers as well as ending the lives of their unborn children. Here are the facts you should know and share with others:

1.Studies Find Abortion Increases Women's Risk of Premature Death

Large scale record-based studies from the United States, Finland and Denmark have found that overall death rates were higher among women following abortion compared to women who had given birth. Most recently, a systematic review of the medical literature, published last year, found that each induced abortion a woman undergoes increases her risk of premature death by 50 percent or more.

The review found that both abortion and miscarriage are linked to elevated mortality rates, but the effect is more strongly associated with induced abortions. The largest portion of premature deaths following pregnancy loss are due to suicides, accidents, homicides, and some natural causes, such as circulatory disease, which are known to be associated with stress.

The reviewers concluded that these findings are best explained by the psychological effects of pregnancy loss, which contribute to elevated levels of stress, substance abuse, risk taking, and self-destructive behaviors.

Learn More:
Each Abortion Increases Women's Risk of Premature Death by 50 Percent, New Study Reports
Higher Death Rates After Abortion Found In Us, Finland and Denmark
Video: Abortion Doesn't Help Suicidal Women
Women’s Suicide Rates Higher After Abortion: New Study

2. Experts Say Abortion Does Not Save Women's Lives

More than 1000 medical professionals and researchers in Ireland have signed the Dublin Declaration on Maternal Healthcare, which states:

As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynecology, we affirm that direct abortion – the purposeful destruction of the unborn child – is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman.

We uphold that there is a fundamental difference between abortion, and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child.

We confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.

Other experts have also stated that abortion is not a safe procedure for women in high risk pregnancies, and that if necessary, early delivery is a better option, even if the child will not survive. As Dr. Anthony Levatino, an ob-gyn who formerly performed abortions and has treated women with high-risk pregnancies, has noted in testimony before a Congressional subcommittee, while late-term abortions can take 36 to 72 hours to accomplish:

In cases where a mother’s life is seriously threatened by her pregnancy, a doctor more often than not doesn’t have 36 hours, much less 72 hours, to resolve the problem ... During my time at Albany Medical Center I managed hundreds of such cases by “terminating” pregnancies to save mother’s lives. In all those hundreds of cases, the number of unborn children that I had to deliberately kill was zero.

Learn More
No Medical Evidence Finds Abortion Can Save a Mother's Life
Is Late-Term Abortion Ever Necessary?
Medicalizing Abortion Decisions
Doctor: Abortion “Not a Viable Treatment Option” to Save Women’s Lives

3. Multiple Studies Find Increased Risk of Mental Health Problems After Abortion

In 2011, a review published in the British Journal of Psychiatry looked at the combined results of all studies on abortion's mental health impact that were published between 1995 and 2009 and met strict inclusion criteria. The resulting analysis included 877,181 women from six countries.

The review found that 10 percent of mental health problems among women, including 35 percent of suicidal behaviors, may be attributable to abortion. Women who aborted were 81 percent more likely to experience mental health problems compared to all other control groups, and 55 percent more likely to have problems compared to women who delivered an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.

And a 2016 study in the United States found that women who had abortions were more likely to be at increased risk of mental health disorders.The study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, and followed more than 8,000 women for a period of 13 years:

After adjusting for demographic differences and other factors, the study found that abortion during these years elevated a woman’s risk of mental health disorder by 45 percent.

“One-eleventh of the prevalence of mental disorders examined over the period were attributable to abortion,” the study’s abstract said.

The study sought to examine any links between pregnancy outcomes like birth, abortion or miscarriage and mental health outcomes for U.S. women during the transition to adulthood. It drew on a national study of 8,005 women that surveyed them three times at average ages of 15, 22 and 28.

Involuntary pregnancy loss was associated with a 24 percent elevated risk of mental disorder, while childbirth was “weakly associated” with reduced risk of mental disorder.

Even the 2008 Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion, issued by a group of psychologists who support abortion, listed 15 risk factors that identify women who are at greater risk of psychological problems after abortion, thus at least acknowledging that some women do have problems coping after abortion.

Learn More:
Most Studies Show Abortion Linked to Increased Mental Health Problems
Study Finds Increased Risk of Mental Health Disorders After Abortion
Risk Factors for Mental Health Problems After Abortion
Online Bibliography of Studies on the Detrimental Effects of Abortion
More Research Articles

4. Studies Find Abortion Has No Benefits, But Does Have Risks

While abortion advocates claim that abortions benefit women who don't plan to be pregnant, a meta-analysis combining the results of eight studies of women who experienced unwanted pregnancies, published in 2013, concluded that “there is no available evidence to suggest that abortion has therapeutic effects in reducing the mental health risks of unwanted or unintended pregnancy.”

Lead author Professor David Fergusson, who has described himself in interviews as a pro-choice atheist, also led the research team in a 2008 study that concluded that women who continued an unwanted or mistimed pregnancy did not experience a significant increase in mental health problems. Further, having an abortion did not reduce their mental health risks.

“In general, there is no evidence in the literature on abortion and mental health that suggests that abortion reduces the mental health risks of unwanted or mistimed pregnancy,” the authors wrote. “Although some studies have concluded that abortion has neutral effects on mental health, no study has reported that exposure to abortion reduces mental health risks.”

Learn More:
Study Finds Abortion Provides No Mental Health Benefits to Women, Even When Pregnancy is Unwanted
Abortion Has No Benefits, But Does Have Risks

5. Women Are At Risk for Unwanted and Coerced Abortions

Research and anecdotal evidence shows that for many pregnant women or girls, abortion is presented as the only answer, especially if they are young, struggling financially, unmarried, disabled, abused, or in any other way seen as unready to have a child. Those whom the woman relies on for support or advice may insist that abortion is her only option and refuse to support any other decision. She may face the real possibility of losing her partner, family, home, livelihood or education. In some cases, she may even be assaulted or killed for refusing to abort.

A survey of women who had abortions found that 64 percent of American respondents reported being pressured by others to abort, and more than half reported being uncertain or feeling rushed into the decision. More recently, a survey of women who sought post-abortion services at pregnancy centers found that 58 percent reported having an abortion to make others happy, 28 percent reported they feared losing their partners if they didn't abort, and 67.5 percent said it was one of the hardest decisions of their lives.

Further, several studies of maternal deaths rates found that homicide was the leading cause of death among pregnant women and that the risk of abuse increases during pregnancy, so it would make sense to at least attempt to find out if the abuser is also pushing for abortion, as has happened  in many cases. Yet abortion advocates and businesses have sought to stop common-sense laws that would hold abortion providers accountable for failing to screen women for coercion.

Finally, abortion counselors and others withhold information from women and their companions about fetal development, alternatives to abortion and the resources available to her, and published medical studies showing increased physical and psychological problems following abortion.Despite research showing that most women want all the information about risks conveyed to them for elective medical procedures, including abortion, the survey of women who aborted found that most said they were not given adequate counseling (with 67 percent reporting they were not counseled at all). Withholding such information is a form of coercion or negligence, and prevents women from making a free, fully-informed choice about abortion. But again, abortion advocates and businesses have opposed any effort to ensure that they are giving women this basic information.

Learn More:
Wanted and Coercion: Key Factors in Understanding Women’s Mental Health and Abortion
Report Shows Evidence of Coerced Abortions, Safety Violations at UK Abortion Clinics
Forced Abortion in America: A Special Report
Special Report on Coercion Inside the Abortion Industry
Forced to Abort? Don’t Count on Clinics to Help

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Get Help:
Pregnancy Help and Resources
Pregnancy Help Worldwide
Center Against Forced Abortions/The Justice Foundation
Help & Healing After Abortion
Help After Abortion Worldwide

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