Their broader claim that “abortion is many times safer than childbirth” completely ignores high rates of other physical and psychological complications associated with abortion.
And now, an unimpeachable study of pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland has shown that the risk of dying within a year after an abortion is several times higher than the risk of dying after miscarriage or childbirth.1 Researchers from STAKES, the statistical analysis unit of Finland’s National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health, examined death certificate records for all Finnish women of reproductive age — a total of 9,192 women — and found that women who had aborted were 3.5 times more likely to die within the next year than women who gave birth or had miscarriages.
Because Finland has socialized medicine, these records are very accurate and complete. Of the 281 women who had a pregnancy-related event in the year before their deaths, the unadjusted mortality rate per 100,000 cases was 27 for women who had given birth, 48 for women who had miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, and 101 for women who had abortions.
Using a subset of the same data, STAKES researchers had previously reported that the risk of death from suicide within the year of an abortion was more than seven times higher than the risk of suicide within a year of childbirth.2 Two of these suicides were also connected with infanticide. Examples of post-abortion suicide/infanticide attempts have also been documented in the United States.3
The same finding was reported in STAKES’ more recent study. Among the 281 women who died within a year of their last pregnancy, 77 (27 percent) had committed suicide. Notably, the risk of suicide following a birth was about half that of the general population of women. This finding is consistent with previous studies that have shown that an undisturbed pregnancy actually reduces the risk of suicide.4
Abortion, on the other hand, is clearly linked to a dramatic increase in suicide risk. This statistical finding is corroborated by interview-based studies which have consistently shown extraordinarily high levels of suicidal thoughts (30-55 percent) and reports of suicide attempts (7-30 percent) among women who have had an abortion.5 In many of these studies, the women interviewed have explicitly described the abortion as the cause of their suicidal impulses.
The STAKES researchers also reported that the risk of death from accidents was more than four times higher for women who had aborted in the year prior to their deaths than for women who had carried to term. Of the 281 women who died within a year of their last pregnancy, 57 (20 percent) died from injuries attributed to accidents.
Once again, giving birth had a protective effect. Women who had borne children had half the risk of suffering a fatal accident compared to the general population. On the other hand, women who aborted were more than twice as likely to die from a fatal accident than women in the general population.
This finding suggests that women with newborn children are probably more careful to avoid risks that could endanger them or their children. Conversely, women who have had an abortion are apparently more prone to taking risks that could endanger their lives.
This data is consistent with at least two other studies that have found that women who abort are more likely to be treated for accident-related injuries in the year following their abortions.
In a study of government-funded medical programs in Canada, researchers found that women who had undergone an abortion in the previous year were treated for mental disorders 41 percent more often than postpartum women and 25 percent more often for injuries or conditions resulting from violence.6
Similarly, a study of Medicaid payments in Virginia found that women who had state-funded abortions had 62 percent more subsequent mental health claims (resulting in 43 percent higher costs) and 12 percent more claims for treatments related to accidents (resulting in 52 percent higher costs) compared to a case matched sample of women covered by Medicaid who had not had a state-funded abortion.7
The STAKES study also found that 14 (5 percent) of the 281 women were killed by another person. Most of these deaths occurred among women who had undergone an abortion. The risk of dying from homicide for post-abortive women was more than four times greater than the risk of homicide among the general population. This finding, especially when combined with the suicide and accident figures, once again reinforces the conclusion that women who abort are more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior.
An Elliot Institute survey of 256 post-abortive women found that nearly 60 percent stated that they began to lose their temper more easily after their abortions, with 48 percent saying they also became more violent when angered. Increased tendencies toward anger and violence after abortion were also significantly associated with substance abuse and higher suicidal tendencies.8 In other words, women who were more prone to anger were also more prone to “giving up” on life. This is a dangerous combination that can more easily lead to fatal confrontations with others.
Of the 281 deaths, 127 (45 percent) were attributed to natural causes. Comparing abortion to birth, we once again see that the risk of death from natural causes was significantly higher (60 percent higher in this sample) for women who had an induced abortion in the prior year compared to those who carried to term or had a natural pregnancy loss.
The obvious implication of this finding is that women who are capable of becoming pregnant are simply healthier and less likely to die of natural causes than women who cannot or do not become pregnant. In other words, women who are most likely to die from a natural physical ailment are less likely to have been pregnant in the last year of their lives.
One possible explanation would be that the women who died after an abortion were already in ill health before the abortions and sought the abortion to protect their health. But this hypothesis was rejected by the STAKES researchers when an examination of abortion registry records showed that only a single woman in this group had her abortion for reasons of maternal health.9 The STAKES data would appear to support the view that induced abortion produces an unnatural physical and psychological stress on women that can result in a negative impact on their general health.
This theory is also supported by a 1984 study that examined the amount of health care sought by women during a year before and a year after their induced abortions. The researchers found that on average, there was an 80 percent increase in the number of doctor visits and a 180 percent increase in doctor visits for psychosocial reasons after abortion.10
Ten years later, another study of 1,428 patients found that pregnancy loss, especially abortion, was significantly associated with a lower assessment of general health.11 The more pregnancy losses a woman had suffered, the more negative her general health score. In addition, loss of a woman’s most recent pregnancy was more strongly associated with lower health than were losses followed by successful deliveries.
The STAKES study of pregnancy-associated deaths is beyond reproach. It is a record-based study in a country with centralized medical records. While a small number of women who died during the period investigated may have had births or abortions outside of Finland that would not have been identified in the records, there is no reason to believe these few cases would have altered these dramatic findings.
Clearly, the odds of a woman dying within a year of having an abortion are significantly higher than for women who carry to term or have a natural miscarriage. This holds true both for deaths from natural causes and deaths from suicide, accidents or homicide. In addition, the study underscores the difficulty in reliably defining and identifying maternal deaths. Only 22 percent of the death certificates examined had any mention of the woman’s recent pregnancy.
Abortion advocates will naturally argue that abortion did not “cause” any of these deaths, but rather that these women were simply self-destructive or ill beforehand and would have died anyway. This is a flimsy argument, since clearly this same data shows that giving birth has a protective effect. Even women who committed suicide after giving birth waited until after their children were born to take their own lives.
It is quite probable that the best way to help a self-destructive woman to change her life, and value her own life, is to encourage her to cherish the life of her unborn child. Conversely, it is clear that aiding and encouraging a self-destructive woman to undergo an abortion is likely to aggravate her self-destructive tendencies.
These findings underscore the importance of holding abortion clinics liable for screening women who are seeking an abortion for a history of suicide, self-destructive behavior and psychological instability. The failure to screen for these risk factors is clearly gross negligence. In addition, when abortion clinic counselors falsely reassure women that abortion is safer than childbirth, they should be held accountable for false and deceptive business practices.
(This article is excerpted from a longer version titled, “Abortion Four Times Deadlier Than Childbirth,” which appeared in The Post-Abortion Review. Copyright 2000, Elliot Institute. Reprinted with permission from Human Life International.)
FOOTNOTES
1. Gissler, M., et. al., “Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994—definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecolgica Scandinavica 76:651-657 (1997).
2. Mika Gissler, Elina Hemminki, Jouko Lonnqvist, “Suicides after pregnancy in Finland: 1987-94: register linkage study” British Medical Journal 313:1431-4, 1996.
3. McFadden, A., “The Link Between Abortion and Child Abuse,” Family Resources Center News (January 1998) 20.
4. S. J. Drower, & E. S. Nash, “Therapeutic Abortion on Psychiatric Grounds,” South African Medical Journal 54:604-608, 7 October 1978; B. Jansson, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 41:87, 1965.
5. David Reardon, “Psychological Reactions Reported After Abortion,” The Post-Abortion Review, 2(3):4-8, Fall 1994; Anne C. Speckhard, The Psychological Aspects of Stress Following Abortion (Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1987); Vincent Rue, “Traumagenic Aspects of Elective Abortion: Preliminary Findings from an International Study” Healing Visions Conference, 22 June 1996.
6. R.F. Badgley, D.F. Caron, M.G. Powell, Report of the Committee on the Abortion Law, Minister of Supply and Services, Ottawa, 1977:313-319.
7. Jeff Nelson,“Data Request from Delegate Marshall” Interagency Memorandum, Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, 21 March 1997.
8. David Reardon, “Psychological Reactions Reported After Abortion,” The Post-Abortion Review, 2(3):4-8, Fall 1994.
9. Personal communication with Mika Gissler, 8 March 2000.
10. D. Berkeley, P.L. Humphreys, and D. Davidson, “Demands Made on General Practice by Women Before and After an Abortion,” J. R. Coll. Gen. Pract. 34:310-315, 1984.
11. Philip G. Ney, Tak Fung, Adele Rose Wickett and Carol Beaman-Dodd, “The Effects of Pregnancy Loss on Women’s Health,” Soc. Sci. Med. 48(9):1193-1200, 1994.
