Abortions Dramatically Increase Rate of Preterm Deliveries and Disabled Children

Media Release 30th November 2016

The rate of preterm births in New Zealand is 8 per cent a rate that has increased 2.1 per cent in the last 20 years. This rate has increased dramatically in the developed world and is correlated with the abortion rate.

There are 5,000 babies born each year in New Zealand who are born before 37 weeks gestation. In 2012 there were 448 fetal deaths, of which 363 were preterm deaths. Researchers believe that 40 per cent of these are caused as a direct result of a previous abortion or repeat abortions. The annual cost of care of preterm babies in New Zealand is an estimated $40 million.

Abortion drastically increases risk of pre-term and low-weight births. Women who have one or more abortions face a dramatically increased risk of giving birth to a pre-term or low birth weight baby in a subsequent pregnancy. This is the conclusion that a team of scientists came to after studying a meta analysis of 36 studies that included over a million women ( 1,047,683 women).

Why are women considering a surgical abortion not being told of the real risks including the increased risk of a preterm delivery and a disabled child in future pregnancies?

Researchers believe that the dilatation of the cervix may cause permanent damage which affects cervical tightness, with a speedy premature opening of the cervix and subsequent premature birth a consequence. Other intra-cervical procedures, such as cervical biopsy or cauterization, may also cause an increased risk of subsequent preterm birth. Cervical damage might also impair the anti-microbial defence mechanism in the cervix, which could lead to ascending genital tract infection, a known cause of preterm birth.’

It is noted that very pre-term babies have a much higher risk of suffering medical problems including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, lung impairment and serious infections.

The study, “Prior uterine evacuation of pregnancy as independent risk factor for preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” was published in the May 2016 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The authors are Vincenzo Berghella and Lisa Perriera, two researchers from Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia), and Gabriele Saccone, of the University of Naples Federico II in Italy.

What they found was a significantly higher risk of subsequent preterm birth among women who had surgical abortions or used some surgical means to resolve their miscarriages.

Though both those with surgically treated miscarriages and abortions saw increases, the numbers were much higher for women who had surgical abortions (+ 22.7%) than for those who had surgical treatment for miscarriage (+9.3%). Taken together, those women who had “uterine evacuations” for abortion or miscarriage saw a 14% increase risk of subsequent preterm birth.

Numbers were worse for those women who had D&E abortions (+ 27.9%) or had more than one prior surgical abortion (+172%).

Right to Life asks why New Zealand women are not been given the full facts when considering an abortion

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