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Do miscarriages occur more
frequently after abortions?
A Boston study by a group who have aggressively done
abortions denied any increase after one abortion, but,
after two or more abortions, they did find a "two-to
three-fold increase in risk of first trimester
spontaneous abortions [miscarriages]," as well as
"losses up to 28 weeks gestation."
Levin et al., "Association of Induced Abortion with
Subsequent Pregnancy Loss," JAMA, vol. 243, no. 24, June
27, 1980, pp. 2495-2499
Of a group of 52 women who had induced abortions 10-15
years previously and who were followed very closely
during that length of time, it was found that one-half
(27) had no problem with subsequent pregnancies. There
was one ectopic pregnancy, eight subsequent — but
long-delayed — conceptions, and three women with
permanently blocked tubes. Of the remaining 11 women,
there were 33 pregnancies with 14 early and 3
midtrimester losses, 6 premature deliveries, and only 10
full-term births. Hilgers et al.,
"Fertility Problems Following an Aborted First
Pregnancy." In New Perspectives on Human Abortion,
edited by S. Lembrych. University Publications of
America, 1981, pp. 128-134
A high incidence of cervical incompetence resultant from
abortion has raised the incidence of spontaneous
abortions to 30-40%. A. Kodasek,
"Artificial Termination of Pregnancy in Czechoslovakia,"
Internat’l Jour. of GYN & OB, vol. 9, no. 3, 1971
Women who had one abortion had a 17.5% miscarriage rate
in subsequent pregnancies, as compared to a 7.5% rate in
a non-aborted group. Richardson &
Dickson, "Effects of Legal Termination on Subsequent
Pregnancy," British Med. Jour., vol. 1, 1976, pp. 1303-4
Women who had delivered their first pregnancy had (in
the second pregnancy) the "best reproductive
performance." Those who had a spontaneous miscarriage on
the first had "the highest frequency of an early loss."
Those with induced abortion on their first had "the
highest frequency of late spontaneous abortion and
premature delivery." Koller & Eikham,
"Late Sequelae of Induced Abortion in Primagravida" Acta
OB-GYN Scand, 56 (1977) p. 311. |