Q: How many women suffer emotionally or physically after an abortion?

The emotional effects of abortion -

• "In one review of the literature, the lowest reported rate for adverse post-abortion outcomes was six percent, with the most reports ranging from 12 to 25 percent, and the highest estimates rising above 50 percent." (David Reardon, "Identifying high risk abortion patients," Post Abortion Review 1:3, Fall 1993)

• By 1990, roughly 18 million women had one or more abortions. If the most conservative estimate of six percent is accurate, then 1,080,000 women have experienced or will experience "adverse post-abortion outcomes." If as many as one-fourth suffer adverse affects, that would be 4.5 million women. (Family Planning Perspectives 23:75, March/April 1991; 28:140, July/August 1996)

• Women who have had multiple abortions are more likely to suffer adverse affects. (Speckhard & Rue, "Postabortion syndrome: An emerging public health concern," Journal of Social Issues, 48:95, 1992)

• "If one thing is clear from post-abortion research over the last forty years, it is that abortion is contraindicated when a woman has mental health problems." Abortion clinics do not screen women for mental health problems. (Reardon, "Identifying high risk abortion patients," Post Abortion Review 1:3, Fall 1993)

• One study found that a teenager is ten times more likely to attempt suicide if she has had an abortion in the last six months than a teenage girl who has not. Another study of women suffering post-abortion trauma found that 60 percent had suicidal thoughts, 28 percent had attempted suicide, and 18 percent had tried more than once, sometimes years after their abortions. (Garfinkel et al, "Stress, depression and suicide: A study of adolescents in Minnesota," University of Minnesota Extension Service, 1986; Reardon, "A survey of psychological reactions," The Elliot Institute, 1987)

The physical effects of abortion -

• "According to the 1992 Hospital Discharge Summary . . . there were 27,000 hospitalizations for missed abortion, 8,000 hospitalizations for incomplete abortion, as well as 14,000 hospitalizations for complications, and 7,000 hospitalizations for genital tract and pelvic infections following abortion and ectopic and molar pregnancies." (Strahan, "Legal liability for physical injury or infection following induced abortion," Research Bulletin 9:3, March/April 1996)

• Repeat abortion is associated with 2-2.5 fold increase in low birth weight and short gestation in subsequent pregnancies when compared with either one live birth or one abortion. (World Health Organization, Special Program of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction: 7th Annual Report, Geneva, 11/78)

• Women who had two or more induced abortions are 2.7 times more likely to have future first trimester miscarriages and 3.2 times more likely to have a second trimester incomplete abortion than women with no history of induced abortion. (Levin et al, "Association of induced abortion with subsequent pregnancy loss," JAMA 243:2495, 6/27/80)

• Women with two or more prior abortions have a relative risk of 2.3 for secondary infertility, and women with one abortion had a relative risk of 2.1 compared to women with no abortion history. (Tzonou et al, "Induced abortions, miscarriages, and tobacco smoking as risk factors for secondary infertility," Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 47:36, 1993)

• Twenty-eight out of 37 studies published since 1957 link abortion with breast cancer. Sixteen out of 17 statistically significant studies report an increased risk. For more information on the link between abortion and breast cancer, visit the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer website.

• A review and analysis of available studies on abortion and breast cancer concluded that abortion raises a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer by approximately one-third. The literature "documents a remarkably consistent, significant positive association between abortion and breast cancer incidence." (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, October 1996)

• A study of African American women found an increased odds ratio for breast cancer if they had a history of induced abortions. (Laing et al, "Breast cancer risk factors in African-American women: the Howard University tumor registry experience," Journal of the National Medical Association 85:931, 12/93)

• The rate of mortality from legal abortions and abortion related deaths from 1977 to 1982 was 0.6 per 100,000 abortion procedures for white women and 1.8 per 100,000 abortion procedures for African American women or women of other races. (Atrash et al, "Legal abortion mortality in the U.S., 1972-1982," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 156:611, 3/87)

• Another study showed a 2.3 relative risk for cancer of the cervix for women with one abortion and a 4.92 relative risk for women reporting two or more induced abortions compared with women with no prior abortion history. (Le et al, "Oral contraceptive use and breast or cervical cancer: Preliminary results of a French case-control study," in Hormones and Sexual Factors in Human Cancer Etiology, Wolff and Scott, eds. Excerpta Medica, NY, 1984, pp. 139-147)

• Induced abortion by suction curettage (the most common kind) is directly implicated in the spread of sexually transmitted diseased into the uterine cavity, causing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. PID is a major cause of infertility, chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, and death. (Avonts et al, "Genital infections in women undergoing therapeutic abortion," European Journal of Obstetrics 20:3, 1985)