Effects
EFFECTS OF ABORTION ON WOMEN
04 14 , 22:58 Filed in: Theology
By Joan Hartzell
Abortion can cause both short-term and long-term physical complications and can significantly affect a woman's ability to have healthy future pregnancies.
Although reporting data is not required, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have received reports of the deaths of 386 women from legal abortion between 1973 and 2004. Accurate assessment is difficult due to lack of surveillance methods.
Long-term physical consequences include future preterm birth and placenta previa (improper implantation of the placenta) in future pregnancies. Preterm birth is the most frequent cause of infant death in the U.S. Pregnancies complicated by placenta previa result in high rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, perinatal death, and maternal morbidity.
Scientific studies have indicated that induced abortion can adversely affect a woman's future risk of breast cancer. The termination of a pregnancy causes a significant drop in the level of estrogen secreted in a woman's body, resulting in a rapid growth in the number of cells in the breast tissue, this cell multiplication greatly increasing the risk of developing breast cancer.
A 25-year research project, the most comprehensive, long-term study ever conducted on the issue by a "pro-choice" team in New Zealand, and controlling for multiple factors both pre- and post-abortion, found conclusively that abortion in young women is associated with increased risks of major depression, anxiety disorder, suicidal behaviors, and substance dependence.
Post-abortion Syndrome has been identified in research as a subset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in which women may experience depression, anxiety, anger, flashbacks, guilt, grief, denial, and relationship problems. Side effects are thoughts of self harm and suicide, increase in dangerous activities, inability to perform normal self-care activities, difficulty sleeping, panic disorders, eating disorders, codependence, abusive parenting or overly-protective parenting, compulsivity in work or sex, and sexual dysfunction.
Studies analyzing the effects of induced abortion in adolescents have shown that those who abort report more frequent problems sleeping, more frequent marijuana use, and an increased need for psychological counseling when compared to adolescents who give birth.
The most common method of abortion is the surgical method vacuum aspiration. The complications that can occur are excessive bleeding, abdominal swelling, pelvic infection, uterine perforation, cervical tears, incomplete abortion, and in extreme cases death. Medical treatment consists of taking mifepristone, followed by misoprostol, with associated risks of frequent uterine pain, excessive uterine bleeding, pelvic infection, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, incomplete abortion, vomiting, diarrhea, and in extreme cases death.
RU-486 complications include hemorrhage, infection, and missed ectopic pregnancy (a potentially fatal complication). Since 2000, at least 8 women have died from RU-486 due to hemorrhage and infection.
Secondary infertility can be a risk of abortion, which means that a woman who has previously conceived a child is no longer able to do so. Directly, a surgical abortion can cause scarring of the uterine wall. Indirectly, fertility can be affected through the risk of an infection of the fallopian tubes.
Shame and guilt are the most prevalent outcomes of abortion, this secret often being hidden for years.
Family Research Council
TheGospel.org
Abortion, Questions & Answers, by Dr. & Mrs. J.C. Willke
Abortion can cause both short-term and long-term physical complications and can significantly affect a woman's ability to have healthy future pregnancies.
Although reporting data is not required, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have received reports of the deaths of 386 women from legal abortion between 1973 and 2004. Accurate assessment is difficult due to lack of surveillance methods.
- Physical complications include:
- Cervical lacerations and injury
- Uterine perforations
- Bleeding
- Hemorrhage
- Serious infection
- Pain
- Incomplete abortion
Long-term physical consequences include future preterm birth and placenta previa (improper implantation of the placenta) in future pregnancies. Preterm birth is the most frequent cause of infant death in the U.S. Pregnancies complicated by placenta previa result in high rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, perinatal death, and maternal morbidity.
Scientific studies have indicated that induced abortion can adversely affect a woman's future risk of breast cancer. The termination of a pregnancy causes a significant drop in the level of estrogen secreted in a woman's body, resulting in a rapid growth in the number of cells in the breast tissue, this cell multiplication greatly increasing the risk of developing breast cancer.
A 25-year research project, the most comprehensive, long-term study ever conducted on the issue by a "pro-choice" team in New Zealand, and controlling for multiple factors both pre- and post-abortion, found conclusively that abortion in young women is associated with increased risks of major depression, anxiety disorder, suicidal behaviors, and substance dependence.
Post-abortion Syndrome has been identified in research as a subset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in which women may experience depression, anxiety, anger, flashbacks, guilt, grief, denial, and relationship problems. Side effects are thoughts of self harm and suicide, increase in dangerous activities, inability to perform normal self-care activities, difficulty sleeping, panic disorders, eating disorders, codependence, abusive parenting or overly-protective parenting, compulsivity in work or sex, and sexual dysfunction.
Studies analyzing the effects of induced abortion in adolescents have shown that those who abort report more frequent problems sleeping, more frequent marijuana use, and an increased need for psychological counseling when compared to adolescents who give birth.
The most common method of abortion is the surgical method vacuum aspiration. The complications that can occur are excessive bleeding, abdominal swelling, pelvic infection, uterine perforation, cervical tears, incomplete abortion, and in extreme cases death. Medical treatment consists of taking mifepristone, followed by misoprostol, with associated risks of frequent uterine pain, excessive uterine bleeding, pelvic infection, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, incomplete abortion, vomiting, diarrhea, and in extreme cases death.
RU-486 complications include hemorrhage, infection, and missed ectopic pregnancy (a potentially fatal complication). Since 2000, at least 8 women have died from RU-486 due to hemorrhage and infection.
Secondary infertility can be a risk of abortion, which means that a woman who has previously conceived a child is no longer able to do so. Directly, a surgical abortion can cause scarring of the uterine wall. Indirectly, fertility can be affected through the risk of an infection of the fallopian tubes.
Shame and guilt are the most prevalent outcomes of abortion, this secret often being hidden for years.
Family Research Council
TheGospel.org
Abortion, Questions & Answers, by Dr. & Mrs. J.C. Willke