Berlin, Germany (LifeNews.com) -- Another study has confirmed the link between abortion and subsequent premature births when a woman is pregnant again. Previous studies have substantiated the link and now new research involving more than one million births show abortion is responsible for elevating pre-term birth risk.

Dr. Manfred Voigt led the new study, published in the German medical magazine Z Geburtshilfe Neonatol late last year.

According to the research, women who have one prior abortion boost their risk for a very premature birth in a future pregnancy by 30 percent.

Women who have had more than one prior abortion increase their risk of a very premature birth by 90 percent -- making it a virtual guarantee that future pregnancies will be problematic.

Canadian researcher Brent Rooney, who has published his own work on the abortion-premature birth link, talked with LifeNews.com on Wednesday about the new study.

Rooney said the Voigt-led team has "removed any lingering doubt about prior induced abortions raising the risk of 'early' premature (under 32-34 weeks' gestation) birth."

"By a factor of over four, with 1,065,202 births, the 2008 Dr. Manfred Voigt study is the most massive AVP (Abortion Very Preterm Birth) study in the last 30 years," he said.

Rooney says the common criticism from abortion advocates about studies show post-abortion problems is a concern regarding recall bias. But the Voigt team had access to accurate abortion data from a governmental database without having to interview women about whether they had abortions.

"Deniers of the abortion-preemie risk would like to claim the women with a
bad pregnancy outcome may not provide accurate information about their
induced abortion history," Rooney said. "Data about women's prior induced abortion history in the 'Voigt' study was extracted from a perinatal data-base."

With the new German study, Rooney says there are now 17 statistically significant studies all confirming the abortion-very premature birth link.

Another 105 significant studies report a link between abortion and slightly premature birth or low birth weight babies.

"Thus, the 2008 German study clearly demonstrates that prior induced abortions still raise the risk of pre-term babies and low birth weight babies in all countries," he told LifeNews.com.

Related web sites:
Voight study abstract in English - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18293256

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