Doctors are constantly worried about malpractice suits filed against
them. As a consequence they try their very best to avoid elective
surgeries that may result in a law suit. One such elective surgery is
abortion.
Obstetricians are especially vulnerable because many babies these days
are born premature. The low birth weight, resulting from the early
departure from the womb gives rise to many complications for the baby --
both physical and mental, including cerebral palsy.
The prematurity rates have risen substantially over the last 25 years.
The reason being the damage done to the cervix by the instruments
necessary for its dilatation prior to an abortion and the damage done
to the lining of the uterus.
Thus, both cervix and uterus being subject to trauma, which may include
lacerations and scarring and in some cases an actual perforation of the
uterus is not conducive to holding subsequent pregnancies to full term.
Now, this should not be hard for anyone to understand.
Also, because of the incompetent cervix, germs have easier access
to the uterus and therefore infections are more likely. Germs can also be
introduced by the abortionist, through non sterile instruments. Abortion
mills are not regulated the same as hospitals.
If more than one abortion was done, before a full term delivery, then the
cervix is damaged even further, as is the uterine lining. The odds of an
incompetent cervix and uterine infection rises with each abortion.
For the purpose of this discussion, I will not include ALL the risks of
abortions, except to name a few of the more serious ones: Increased risk
of breast cancer, hemorrhage, punctured uterus, infection, ectopic pregnancies
and sterility. Then, there are the related risks, but NOT less important --
increased drug and alcohol abuse and suicide.
In Britain there was “a threefold rise in litigation for negligence leading
to
brain damage to infants between 1984 and 1989, and that the average
award had increased almost threefold in a similar period." If the birth is
so preterm that the birth weight falls below 1500 grams, the risk of cerebral
palsy is approximately thirty-eight times that of a full-term normal weight
newborn infant.
If there was one statistically significant report in a peer reviewed medical
journal finding that an elective medical treatment raised the risk of a
subsequent preterm births, then women must be warned of this possible
risk.
Not only is there just one study statistically significant, but there are a
minimum of TWENTY. However, since abortions are the number one
culprit of subsequent premature deliveries, the public hears nary a word
about it. You will not hear about it on the 6:00 PM, or 11:00 PM news,
or read about it in the newspapers.
The media's credo -- first do no harm to the abortion industry. The harm
and suffering to babies and the anguish to parents is secondary.
Yet the media will constantly bombard us with lesser life saving news, such as
-- a new way to get rid of wrinkles, or how to rate your mate.
These twenty reports certainly make the induced abortion/prematurity risk
a more than merely credible one and one that legally must be included on
consent forms. The rest of this article will present arguments that will
convince 'objective obstetricians' that the purported risk has very high
credibility.
What if three world renowned preterm birth experts identified an elective
medical procedure as boosting subsequent preterm birth risk? Would that
make the risk very plausible? The only answer to that question can only
be "YES". The three renowned experts:
- 1- Barbara Luke (ScD, MPH; Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
University of Michigan)
- 2- Judith Lumley (PhD; Centre for the Study of Mother's and Children's
Health, Victoria, Australia)
- 3- Emile Papiernik (MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Maternite Port Royal)
Professor Barbara Luke in her classic book wrote, "If you have had one
or more induced abortions, your risk of prematurity with this pregnancy
increases by about 30 percent." (Every Pregnant Woman's Guide to
Preventing Premature Birth, 1995)
Dr. Luke, has identified one mechanism that explains why abortion raises
prematurity risk.
"The procedures for first-trimester abortion involve dilating the cervix
slightly and suctioning the contents of the uterus. The procedures for
second-trimester abortions are more involved, including dilating the cervix
wider and for longer periods, and scraping the inside of the uterus.
Women who had had several second-trimester abortions may have a
higher incidence of incompetent cervix, a premature spontaneous dilation
of the cervix, because the cervix has been artificially dilated several times
before this pregnancy.”
"Birth before 32 weeks [gestation] is ten times more likely with the
diagnosis
of incompetent cervix", wrote Professor Luke. Since black American
women have about triple the rate of induced abortion as Caucasian
women, this helps to explain their tripled risk of preterm birth relative to
Caucasian women.
The editor of the medical journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Roy M.
Pitkin M.D, wrote about Prof. Luke’s book, “this complete and accurate
book should have great appeal to the discriminating woman who is pregnant
or planning a pregnancy, as a means of maximizing her chances for a successful
pregnancy.”
Australian researcher Judith Lumley in 1998 wrote, "One possible
mechanism is that cervical instrumentation can facilitate the passage
of organisms into the upper part of the uterus, increasing the probability
of inapparent infection and subsequent preterm birth."
Emile Papiernik MD, was director of a national program in France that
lowered the prematurity rate by 31.5 percent in its first ten years!!
Compare
this magnificent accomplishment with the U.S. situation where the prematurity
rate has risen steadily over the last 20 years.
In 1999 Papiernik, et al., reported
1. 86% increased risk of very preterm birth (less than 33 weeks' gestation)
for women with previous first trimester abortions
2. 267% increased risk of very preterm birth for women with previous
second trimester abortions
Preterm birth (less than 37 week's gestation) is universally recognized as
the number one cause of infant death before age one. Those 'preemies'
who do not die are at much higher risk for physical and mental handicaps.
One such handicap is cerebral palsy.
Researchers (1996) from the University of Washington in the respected
medical journal ‘Epidemiology,’ wrote, “a second biological risk that helps
to explain higher prematurity risk is infection. Our findings indicate that
an abortion in a woman's first pregnancy does not have the same protective
effect of lowering the risk for intrapartum infection in the following
pregnancy
as does a livebirth."
Infection is a leading cause of death from induced abortion if one ignores
breast cancer and suicide from abortion.
In 1992 Dr. Janet Daling and colleagues reported that if the previous
pregnancy ended in induced abortion, the risk of intraamniotic infection
[i.e. infection of the amniotic sac] increased by 140%.
Most abortion clinic consent forms list infection as a risk and some list
'incompetent cervix' (e.g. "lacerated cervix") but NO form lists a very
serious consequence of these risks -- elevated risk of a future preterm
birth.
In a nutshell what makes the abortion/preterm birth risk very credible is:
- 1. Three world experts (Luke, Lumley, Papiernik) report that induced
abortion boosts prematurity risk
- 2. ONE HUNDRED percent of TWENTY statistically significant medical
studies find increased prematurity risk
- 3. Most of the studies that looked for it, found that the more the number
of previous induced abortions, the higher the prematurity risk.
Two evacuation abortions increases prematurity risk by 1155%
- 4. Biological Plausibility - incompetent cervix and infection are risks of
induced abortion and risks for preterm birth.
- 5. Consent forms list infection and/or incompetent cervix as risk factors
of induced abortion, but NOT premature deliveries on subsequent
pregnancies.
- 6. In 1967 in Eugenics Review, Dr. Malcolm Potts, who has always
been a stout defender of induced abortions, conceded that induced
abortion increased prematurity risk."there seems little doubt that there is a
true relationship between the high incidence of therapeutic abortion and
prematurity. The interruption of pregnancy in the young (under seventeen)
is more dangerous than in other cases."
Quite a concession from one who defends induced abortions, but why
the term "therapeutic" abortion. 99% of all abortions are no more
therapeutic than I am a master of this kEyboaRd. The last I heard,
they ALL end in death to one of the two parties involved and the
party not killed is left more often than not with lasting physical and/or
emotional problems and even death, e.g., increased risk of breast cancer,
hemorrhage, perforated uterus, infection, subsequent premature births,
or ectopic pregnancies, cigarette, drug, and alcohol abuse and suicide.
THERAPEUTIC ABORTION -- please, give me a break. Maybe in Planned
Parenthood’s dreams. The more accurate term should be -- MALHEALTH
ABORTIONS. (as in malpractice)
Summary
A medical doctor has a legal duty to protect a woman patient's health.
To severely threaten a woman's reproductive health is a direct and
potentially expensive violation of this duty. Defenders of abortions will
trot out the old 'Joe Camel' defense of 'not conclusively proven' and thus,
no warning of risk should be given. Only one report in a peer reviewed
medical journal finding increased prematurity risk from previous induced
abortions need be provided for a warning of possible preterm birth to be
issued.
TWENTY reports is 1900 percent more than one report. To protect
themselves from potentially huge legal liabilities, medical doctors should
refrain from performing elective induced abortions.
I want to thank Brent Rooney from www.nocancer.net
for his research in making this report possible. For other references, see references.