Repeat Abortions Become a Concern, Show Society Has Failed Women

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 26, 2004   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Repeat Abortions Become a Concern, Show Society Has Failed Women

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 26, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The media and abortion advocates in Washington for Sunday’s march are talking about abortion but ignoring its harmful effects says one leading pro-life advocate. One problem leading researchers have identified is the increasing number of women who have multiple abortions and lasting health problems as a result.

"The media ignored the Centers for Disease Control survey last November even though it shows that multiple abortions are now the norm, not the exception, today," explains Cathy Cleaver Ruse of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Ruse said Maryland ranked first with the percentage of women (17 percent) who have had four abortions.

Though some states keep track of numerous repeat abortions, Ruse said the CDC survey stopped counting at four.

"The survey didn’t ask why these abortions occurred — and the abortion industry will tell you it doesn’t matter — they say ‘who decides’ is the only thing that matters," Ruse said. "But ‘why’ does matter, very much."

In the 1980s, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, surveyed reasons why women have multiple abortions.

"The answers explain why they’ve never asked again," Ruse says.

Guttmacher found that the abortions were not performed as protect a woman’s health or because the woman was a victim of rape or incest. Such abortions account for only 7 percent of all abortions annually.

Instead, the overarching reason why women had repeat abortions was because of a lack of financial and/or emotional support for the pregnancy.

"In other words, women abort their babies because they need practical help and emotional support and no one will give it to them," Ruse explains. "And that is the dirty secret of the pro-choice movement: that abortion is a reflection that we have failed to meet the needs of women."

Research also shows multiple abortions have a devastating affect on women’s health, aside form the normal risks and dangers associated with induced abortion.

Women who have abortions faced an increased risk of cervical cancer. Articles in The Lancet and the British Journal of Cancer reveal that women with multiple abortions face an even higher risk of both cervical cancer as well as ovarian and liver cancer.

These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women are apparently linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage.

Meanwhile, in a survey of 1428 women, reported in a 1994 article in Social Science Medicine, researchers found that pregnancy loss, and particularly losses due to induced abortion, was significantly associated with an overall lower health. Multiple abortions correlated to an even lower evaluation of "present health."

"Women deserve better than abortion," Ruse concluded. "No compassionate person wants a woman to go through the personal tragedy of abortion. Even those marching for "choice" on Sunday deserve better than abortion. And in their hearts they know they do."

Related web sites:
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops – https://www.usccb.org
Elliot Institute – https://www.afterabortion.org