Abortion Linked to Later Pregnancy Problems (moved from ATSNN), page 1

A French statistical study has found that women who have had a previous abortion are 1.7 times more likely to have experience a subsequent premature birth. This report has prompted calls from anti-abortion groups to inform abortion-seekers of this result.

news.telegraph.co.uk
Having an abortion almost doubles a woman's risk of giving birth dangerously early in a later pregnancy, according to research that will provoke fresh debate over the most controversial of all medical procedures.

A French study of 2,837 births - the first to investigate the link between terminations and extremely premature births - found that mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks' gestation. Many babies born this early die soon after birth, and a large number who survive suffer serious disability.

The research leader, Dr Caroline Moreau, an epidemiologist at the Hôpital de Bicêtre in Paris, said the results of the study, which appear in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, provided conclusive evidence of a link between induced abortion and subsequent pre-term births.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I don't have access to medical journals, so I'm currently not able to review the actual methodology and data. The full reference for the article is BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,Volume 112, Issue 4, Page 430-437, Apr 2005. The abstract is linked below.

The abstract points out that the data "were analysed using polytomous logistic regression models to control for social and demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits during pregnancy and obstetric history."

The lead author, Caroline Moreau, has numerous medical publications including several more on the subject of abortion and contraception.

In any case, a very interesting result that will likely resonate with anti-abortion activists around the world.

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