Why Women are at Risk of Death AFTER Abortion

Dr Donna Harrison MD and Dr M Houghton MB, BS, (London) MRCGP

Recently I chatted with a female doctor who used abortion as a student. She argued that legal abortion should be available for a woman’s safety – until she read our handy guide choicescommunity.co.uk/the-book

Like her, many assume that ‘legal abortion’ means it’s safe – safer than having a baby.

We saw in Dr Donna Harrison’s earlier article the reasons why women die young, during or soon after their abortion: severe bleeding and overwhelming infection –  both can do this. [1] Why  women die during abortion And complications are at least four times more common using abortion pills (chemical abortion) than having surgical abortion.

But what about the longer term complications of abortion?

Some people suggest it’s silly to think of giving birth as safer than an abortion. Isn’t birth a difficult event with major blood loss? Whereas abortion seems a quick and simple job early in pregnancy. Only the evidence can compare the safety of either route.

First, let’s remember each lost pregnancy, for any reason, leads to grief, even when the child wasn’t wanted. Grieving is common to us all and deep from the heart. So is it surprising that a woman could die of sadness?

Or even a man? As a family doctor, I came back to work from a weekend off. A note on my desk, from a young male patient who I knew, read, ‘I cannot live without this baby; he was everything to me.’ The abortion had been done and the father had been found hanging from the ceiling.

 Women and suicide after abortion

In Finland, a national study showed that post abortion women were at six times higher risk of suicide than after giving birth.  Other causes of early female death, such as murder and accidental death, were higher within one year of the abortion. [2]

 Saddest of all, the suicides peaked on the anniversary of the expected birth of the child aborted. And it is likely that fatal accidents increase after abortion because the physical and emotional trauma leads to more risk taking. I knew of a man wildly riding his motorbike for years after the abortion until he got help. So is it surprising that these delayed deaths after abortion persist for another 25 years? [3]

 These graphics below compare suicide attempts in women for births or abortions. There are three different age groups, from teens to late twenties. [4]  The higher the column the more women attempted suicide (before and after abortion).

 Suicide attempts before and after abortion, by age group.

 The next chart gives the number of women attempting suicide before and after a birth.

 Births: suicide attempts before and after giving birth, by age group.

 More reasons for women dying young

Most elective abortions are done early in pregnancy when the probability of leaving some retained placenta inside the womb is high. Abortion surgeons will scrape the wall of the womb deeply to try and prevent this. But the scraping can even perforate the womb. Perforations can damage organs beside the womb, such as the bowels or bladder. Life-threatening infection can follow immediately – or pain and bowel obstruction years later. A local surgeon tells me (MH in Sheffield, UK) these complications commonly come back to them following abortion in a local clinic. Why? Partly because “abortionists’ skills and training are poor – its highly unpopular to do them and recruitment is difficult,” (says the specialist).

Women at risk poorer countries

We have been talking about legal abortion in countries where emergency care for complications of abortion or ruptured ectopic pregnancy are on hand. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how women suffer in resource poor countries. The lack of access to skilled surgeons, blood transfusions and antibiotics means “ordinary” complications become life threatening or fatal. They often leave behind the working father with many children to care for.

Take home notes:

·       Everyone considering abortion needs to know that giving birth confers three times more protection against an early death.

·       Every nurse, midwives or doctor should routinely “make a gentle, non-judgmental query: ‘Have you had any pregnancy losses, like a miscarriage, abortion?’” These are risk factors for the patient now which will be heightened by choosing abortion again.[5]

·       Abortion policy makers must revise their obsolete messaging about abortion being easy and safe.

 

Dr Donna Harrison MD is  CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the largest non-sectarian pro-life medical organization in the world. They  provide evidence based information about the effects of elective abortion on both the pregnant mother and her unborn child.

Dr M Houghton MB BS (London), MRCGP founded The Choices Community  giving evidence-based help for anyone considering abortion. It’s a resource for a woman’s family, physicians and policymakers. Dr Houghton co-authored the practical Pregnancy and Abortion Guide    with Dr Esther Luthy and Christine Fidler.

 

[1] Niinimaki M, Pouta A, Bloigu A, et al. “Immediate complications of medical compared with surgical termination of pregnancy.” Obstet Gynecol 2009;114(4):795-804. DOI:10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181b5ccf9. Free full text: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19888037/

[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2050312117740490 (accessed 26-10-22) from Gissler M, Berg C, Bouvier-Colle M-H, et al. Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987–2000. Eur J Public Health 2005; 15(5): 459–463.

[3] Gissler M, Berg C, Bouvier-Colle MH, Buekens  P, 'Methods for identifying pregnancy associated deaths data from Finland 1987-2000', Paediatra and Perinatal Epidemiology  [Internet]. STAKES, Helsinki, Finland; November 2004, Dunlap.

[4] C Morgan, M Evans, and J Peters, 'Suicides after Pregnancy', BMJ 314 (902) (March 1997), data extracted and plotted from table 1, PP .902-3.

[5] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2050312117740490 (accessed 26-10-22).

AbortionMark HoughtonComment