GENEVA, Switzerland — Legalized abortion is widely touted as
beneficial to women, but a wealth of medical and psychological evidence
suggests otherwise, according to a new analysis of decades of research. The analysis was released today at the
World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life
Global Outreach (MCCL GO) and National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund
(NRLC), an NGO based in Washington, D.C.
Jeanne E. Head, R.N., Patrick Buckley and Scott Fischbach who are in
Geneva introducing the analysis, are calling for a renewed emphasis on
providing women with improved maternal health care.
“Women face numerous risks with abortion, legal or illegal,
and those risks are substantially greater in the developing world,” said Jeanne
Head, R.N., National Right to Life vice-president for international affairs and
U.N. representative. “Yet some in
the international community have focused their resources primarily on
legalizing abortion at the expense of women’s lives and health.”
“The evidence is overwhelming: Abortion is dangerous for
women,” said MCCL GO Executive Director Scott Fischbach. “Abortion is by its very nature a
violent and damaging procedure.”
“Rather than legalize or promote abortion, governments
should protect the equal dignity and basic rights of all human beings,
including women and their unborn children,” said Patrick Buckley, Geneva main
representative for the U.K. Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.
The analysis, “How Abortion Hurts Women,” provides an
overview of extensive research from multiple countries into the risks of
abortion. Documented complications
include hemorrhage, infection, cervical damage, uterine perforation, pelvic
disease and retained fetal or placental tissue. Large record-based studies from Finland, Denmark and the
United States found that maternal mortality rates were significantly higher
after abortion compared to childbirth.
Long-term risks of abortion, including subsequent preterm
birth, infertility, cancer, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and placenta previa,
can substantially impede future reproductive success. In addition, abortion is associated with increased risk of
negative psycho-social consequences.
For example, a 2011 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of
Psychiatry found an 81 percent increased risk of mental health problems. Anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug
use and suicidal behaviors have been found to increase following abortion,
along with damage to key relationships.
In the developing world, these dangers increase where basic
maternal health care is unavailable.
Ms. Head explains: “The incidence of maternal mortality is mainly
determined by the quality of maternal health care. Legalization does not improve outcomes, but only increases
the number of women subjected to the risks of abortion.”
MCCL GO and National Right to Life called upon the WHA to
focus its resources on the improvement of women’s health care in the developing
world.
“We call upon the WHA to acknowledge that abortion
needlessly puts women at serious risk, both physically and psychologically,”
Mr. Fischbach added. “We urge the
World Health Assembly to adopt measures that protect women from abortion and
improve women’s health care.”
The analysis is available in English, French and Spanish at
the MCCL GO website, www.mccl-go.org.
Copies are available at the WHA Geneva conference by calling Mr.
Fischbach on 001-320-492-9062.
MCCL GO is a pro-life global outreach program of the
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Education Fund with one goal: to save as
many innocent lives as possible from the destruction of abortion. Learn more at www.mccl-go.org. Please subscribe to our RSS Feed.
Founded in 1968, National Right to Life, the federation of
50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the
nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the
flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education
to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and
euthanasia.
