Posted on 09/10/2012 3:55:34 PM PDT by NYer
A single induced abortion increases the risk of maternal death by 45 percent compared to women with no history of abortion, according to a new study of all women of reproductive age in Denmark over a 25 year period.
In addition, each additional abortion is associated with an even higher death rate. Women who had two abortions were 114 percent more likely to die during the period examined, and women had three or more abortions had a 192 percent increased risk of death.
Elevated rates of death were also observed among women who experienced miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or other natural losses.
Women with a history of successful deliveries were the least likely to die during the 25 years examined. Women who had never been pregnant had the highest mortality rate.
Among women with a history of multiple pregnancies, women with a history of both abortions and natural losses, but no live births, had the highest mortality rate.
The study is the second record linkage analysis of Danish mortality data to be published this month. The earlier study was limited to comparing mortality rates following only the first pregnancy outcome.
It found that abortion of a first pregnancy was associated with a higher rate of death compared to death rates among women who delivered a first pregnancy. The higher death rate among women who had abortions persisted for each of the first ten years following the first pregnancy outcome.
“Dose Effect” Supports Causal Link
The finding that each additional abortion or other pregnancy loss contributed to a rising death rate is an indication that the observed effects are more likely to be causal than incidental, according to Dr. David Reardon, one of the co-authors of both studies.
“We knew from our previous studies of low income women in California that women who have multiple pregnancy outcomes, such as having a history of both abortion and miscarriage, have significantly different mortality rates,” Reardon said. ”But this new study is the first to examine how each experience with abortion or miscarriage contributes to higher mortality rates.”
This is called a “dose effect” because “each exposure, or ‘dose,’ is seen to produce more of the same effect, which is what one would expect if there is a cause-effect relationship,” Reardon explained.
Reardon is the director of the Elliot Institute, which funds research related to abortion. He believes further research is needed to explore how the outcomes observed in this latest study may be influenced by abortion’s impact on natural pregnancy losses. A new population study from Finland, for example, has found that abortion is associated with higher rates of preterm delivery, low birth weight delivery, and perinatal deaths in subsequent pregnancies.
Reardon believes that a truer picture of the benefits of childbirth and the risks of abortion and pregnancy loss is now emerging because of a shift to more reliable record linkage studies. Such studies have been conducted in Finland, Denmark and the United States.
Before these record linkage studies were available, efforts to compare the mortality rates associated with abortion and childbirth were usually based on death certificates alone. Reardon characterized those previous comparisons as “junk in, junk out” analyses because death certificates have been proven to be notoriously inaccurate in regard to women’s reproductive history, especially in regard to any history of abortion or miscarriage.
“Record linkage studies are the only way to use the same objective yard stick for comparing mortality rates associated with pregnancy outcomes,” he said. “More researchers and more research dollars should be expended on investigating these issues. Without it, population control efforts in developing countries may lead to ill-informed public health initiatives which will actually increase death rates among women rather than reduce them.”
Ping!
Why can’t we all agree that abortion is death of an innocent child and be real careful with bringing statistics into it or we will have more senate candidates claiming that rape victims bodies prevent them from getting pregnant. You poison the well with iffy science. It does not help the cause
So what makes you such an expert? Sounds very plausible and should be explored.
Pray for America
I have read studies that state, every time there is an induced abortion the chances of caring to full term next time decreases.
There is a friend of mine who has started a support group for grandmothers who encouraged their daughter to get abortions (for whatever reason).
She came to my house one afternoon and was nearly hysterical.
Apparently she woke up in the middle of the night, and realized she had “killed” (yes, she used that word”), five grandchildren. (She has four daughters)
I was unable to console her, because she was right.
We prayed together, that was really all I had to offer.
Anyway, she started this group, a sadder group of women would I am sure in my life time be found.
There are after about fifteen years 150 members.
Realizing this is off topic, I still thought I would share.
Oh, her daughters two were never able to get pregnant.
Two had children but had several spontaneous miscarriages.
Could those been a coincidence, possibly but you never convince the grandmother.
That has been known for years, although not advertised. Women are discouraged from smoking during pregnancy because of the risk of resulting fetal death, but the risk of fetal death during pregnancies following an abortion is just as high. Unfortunately, while women can stop smoking, it is impossible to undo the damage caused by abortion.
I'm curious about the higher rates of maternal death following abortion, and about the apparent dose relationship. What is the breakdown on cause of death? Are the deaths predominately caused by psychological or physical factors?
Women all gave a 100%certainty of death. So do men.
I’m hardly an expert on statistics but what causes you to call this ‘iffy science’?
Never mind that it's been known since at least the 1970s that rape victims have an extremely low risk of getting pregnant from the rape, and there are very good physical reasons why that is so. Only a kook would mention that fact, am I right?
In other words, suppress the data to prevent gaffes?
thank you
I don't know why, but I find that hard to believe.
Additionally, the women that have had multiple abortions, may be the type that are not inclined to live a healthy lifestyle.
I don't know why, but I find that hard to believe.
I believe that studies have shown that women who get pregnant twice and go full term have the highest life expectancy of any women. The study discussed here supports those earlier studies.
If they give birth 3 or more times, does the mortality rate go back up significantly? Maybe if you have kids, your have more of a reason to live, or don’t engage in as many risky behaviors when you become a mom?
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Speaks for itself. If women only knew. I wonder about increase in suicides, that probably has been studied.
“I don’t know why, but I find that hard to believe.”
It’s stated plainly in the study: “Risk of death was more than six times greater among women who had never been pregnant compared with those who only had birth(s).”
http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/09/05/eurpub.cks107.abstract
Granted, these are correlations which don’t explicitly identify causation. But, it would appear if these study results are indicative of other time periods, societies, and the human population as a whole, that the most dangerous lifestyle choice a woman can make is to choose to remain childless.
Interestingly enough, if applicable to a wider group, this study would seem to imply that childlessness is a more destructive and morally/emotionally bankrupt lifestyle for women than multiple abortions AND miscarriages. What’s even more interesting, is the healthiest possible lifestyle implied by the study is for women to have multiple children.
That’s not too hard to believe, either. It fits with a reasonable interpretation of natural law. The purpose of any biological organism is, first, to reproduce itself. Go forth, be fruitful and multiply.
“It’s stated plainly in the study: “Risk of death was more than six times greater among women who had never been pregnant compared with those who only had birth(s).”
I have read studies that incidents of breast cancer are higher in women who do not have children or who wait to have children later in life. I think it has to do with the human body being geared to replenish breast tissue in nursing moms. If this does not occur, the theory I read was that this leads to an increased likelihood of cancerous growths.
You might have reminded her that Christ died for all our sins, even the most barbaric. I hope she realizes this.
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