In 1973, the united states supreme court struck down every federal, state, and local law regulating or restricting the practice of abortion. This action was based on the premise that the states no longer had any need to regulate abortion because the advances of modern medicine had now made abortion relatively safe. Therefore, the justices concluded, it is unconstitutional to prevent physicians from providing abortions as a health service to women. 1 national abortion policy is built upon this judicial fact that abortion is a safe procedure.

If this fact is found to be false, then national policy toward abortion must be re evaluated. Indeed, if it is found that abortion may actually be dangerous to health of women, there is just cause for governments to regulate or prohibit abortion in order to protect their citizens. This is especially true since over 1.5 million women undergo abortions each year. Since the court's ruling in 1973, there have been many studies into the aftereffects of abortion. Their combined results paint a haunting picture of physical and psychological damage among millions of women who have undergone abortions. National statistics on abortion show that 10% of women undergoing induced abortion suffer from immediate complications, of which one fifth 20% were considered major. 2 3 over one hundred potential complications have been associated with induced abortion.

Minor complications include: minor infections, bleeding, fevers, chronic abdominal pain, gastro intestinal disturbances, vomiting, and rh sensitization. The nine most common major complications are infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endotoxic shock. 4 in a series of 1,182 abortions which occurred under closely regulated hospital conditions, 27 percent of the patients acquired post abortion infection lasting 3 days or longer.

5 while the immediate complications of abortion are usually treatable, these complications frequently lead to long term reproductive damage of much more serious nature. Researchers have reported that 3 to 5 percent of aborted women are left inadvertently sterile as a result of the operation's latent morbidity. 6 4 the risk of sterility is even greater for women who are infected with a venereal disease at the time of the abortion. 7 in addition to the risk of sterility, women who acquire post abortal infections are five to eight times more likely to experience ectopic pregnancies.

11 other countries which have legalized abortion have seen the same dramatic increase in ectopic pregnancies. 12 7 cervical damage is another leading cause of long term complications following abortion. In order to perform an abortion, the cervix must be stretched open with a great deal of force.

During this forced dilation there is almost always caused microscopic tearing of the cervix muscles and occasionally severe ripping of the uterine wall, as well. According to one hospital study, 12.5% of first trimester abortions required stitching for cervical lacerations. 13 such attention to detail is not normally provided at an outpatient abortion clinic. 14 women under 17 have been found to face twice the normal risk of suffering cervical damage due to the fact that their cervixes are still green and developing. 15 16 whether microscopic or macroscopic in nature, the cervical damage which results during abortion frequently results in a permanent weakening of the cervix. This weakening may result in an incompetent cervix which, unable to carry the weight of a later wanted pregnancy, opens prematurely, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth.

According to one study, symptoms related to cervical incompetence were found among 75% of women who undergo forced dilation for abortion. 17 cervical damage from previously induced abortions increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and complications of labor during later pregnancies by 300 500 percent. 18 19 20 6 the reproductive risks of abortion are especially acute for women who abort their first pregnancies. A major study of first pregnancy abortions found that 48% of women experienced abortion related complications in later pregnancies. 20 yet another researcher found that among teenagers who aborted their first pregnancies, 66% subsequently experienced miscarriages or premature birth of their second, wanted pregnancies. 21 when the risks of increased pregnancy loss are projected on the population as a whole, it is estimated that aborted women lose 100,0 wanted pregnancies each year because of latent abortion morbidity. 4 in addition, premature births, complications of labor, and abnormal development of the placenta, all of which can result from latent abortion morbidity, are leading causes of handicaps among newborns.

22 looking at premature deliveries alone, it is estimated that latent abortion morbidity results in 30 cases of acquired cerebral palsy among newborns each year. 4 6 finally, since these pregnancy problems pose a threat to the health of the mothers too, women who have had abortions face a 58 percent greater risk of dying during a later pregnancy. 4 researchers investigating post abortion reactions report only one positive emotion: relief.

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This emotion is understandable, especially in light of the fact that the majority of aborting women report feeling under intense pressure to get it over with. 4 23 temporary feelings of relief are frequently followed by a period psychiatrists identify as emotional paralysis, or post abortion numbness. 24 like shell shocked soldiers, these aborted women are unable to express or even feel their own emotions. Their focus is primarily on having survived the ordeal, and they are at least temporarily out of touch with their feelings. Studies within the first few weeks after the abortion have found that between 40 and 60 percent of women questioned report negative reactions.

4 25 26 within 8 weeks after their abortions, 55% expressed guilt, 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor. 25 in one study of 500 aborted women, researchers found that 50 percent expressed negative feelings, and up to 10 percent were classified as having developed serious psychiatric complications. 27 thirty to fifty percent of aborted women report experiencing sexual dysfunctions, of both short and long duration, beginning immediately after their abortions. 4 23 these problems may include one or more of the following: loss of pleasure from intercourse, increased pain, an aversion to sex and/or males in general, or the development of a promiscuous life style. Up to 33 percent of aborted women develop an intense longing to become pregnant again in order to make up for the lost pregnancy, with 18 percent succeeding within one year of the abortion.

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