Planned Parenthood Disregards Women’s Health and Safety

Planned Parenthood depicts itself as “concerned above all with women’s health and the risk factors for reproductive health problems.”[i] However, as documented in Americans United for Life’s July 2011 report, The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood[ii], Planned Parenthood jeopardizes women’s health and safety by providing misleading and inaccurate information regarding the risks inherent in abortion. The investigatory group Live Action’s undercover videos at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, released in May and June 2012, further expose Planned Parenthood’s callous disregard for women’s health and safety, particularly its failure to provide women with complete, medically accurate information about the risks of late-term abortions.[iii]

Numerous, well-documented studies in peer-reviewed medical journals demonstrate that abortion poses significant medical risks for women, and that these serious medical risks increase exponentially later in pregnancy.[iv]

The undisputed risks of immediate complications from abortion include blood clots, hemorrhage, incomplete abortions, infection, and injury to the cervix and other organs.[v] Abortion can also cause missed ectopic pregnancy, cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, renal failure, metabolic disorder, or shock. Immediate complications affect approximately 10 percent of women undergoing abortions, and approximately one-fifth of these complications are life threatening.[vi]

Studies reveal that the long-term physical and psychological consequences of abortion include an increased risk of:

• subsequent preterm birth;
• placenta previa (a complication during pregnancy where the placenta partially or totally covers the mother’s cervix and which can cause severe bleeding before or during delivery);
• subsequent suicide or suicidal ideation;
• major depression;
• substance abuse;
• anxiety;
• sleeping disorders;
• breast cancer as a result of the loss of the protective effect of a first full-term pregnancy[vii];
• miscarriage;
• ectopic pregnancy;
• and death.[viii]

These medical risks, consistently documented by peer-reviewed medical journals, gravely endanger women’s physical and psychological health.

Notably, medical studies reveal that these serious medical risks increase markedly later in pregnancy.[ix]

After eight weeks gestation[x], the already high risk to a woman’s health from abortion increases exponentially.[xi] At 12-13 weeks gestation, the physical complications rate is 3-6 percent.[xii] The rate increases to 50 percent or higher as abortions are performed later into the second trimester.[xiii] Notably, the incidence of major complications is highest after 20 weeks of gestation.[xiv]

After the first trimester, the risk of hemorrhage from an abortion, in particular, is greater. The resulting complications may require a hysterectomy, other reparative surgery, or a blood transfusion.[xv]

As detailed by Americans United for Life’s amicus curiae brief filed in Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, numerous peer-reviewed studies demonstrate a link between abortion and depression, as well as an increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide following induced abortion.[xvi] Research also indicates that late-term abortions carry an elevated mental health risk. A 2010 study comparing the mental health of women undergoing early versus late-term abortions found that women who underwent later abortions (13 weeks or beyond) reported “more disturbing dreams, more frequent reliving of the abortion, and more trouble falling asleep.”[xvii] The same study ultimately concluded that women who wait until the second or third trimester before undergoing an abortion have an increased risk of “unwelcome re-experience of the abortion procedure,” reminiscent of post-traumatic stress disorder, that may require professional counseling.[xviii]

Abortion complications have resulted in maternal death and the risk of death from abortion increases exponentially later in pregnancy. A study of national data in the U.S. on abortion-related mortality from 1988-1997 found that at 13-15 weeks of gestation, the rate of abortion-related mortality was 14.7 per 100,000; at 16-20 weeks, the rate rose to 29.5 per 100,000; and, at or after 21 weeks, the rate reached 76.6 deaths per 100,000.[xix]

Despite the well-documented risks of abortion—particularly late-term abortion—Live Action’s 2012 exposé reveals the callous disregard demonstrated by some Planned Parenthood employees for the serious health risks late-term abortions pose for women.

In May and June 2012, Live Action’s “Gendercide” series exposed Planned Parenthood’s affirmation and facilitation of sex-selection abortions. But this was far from the only troubling evidence uncovered. The video footage also shows Planned Parenthood employees misinforming women about the serious health risks of late-term abortions.

At a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Austin, Texas, for example, a Planned Parenthood employee dangerously understated the significant increase in health risks to a woman undergoing a late-term abortion. When the pregnant woman inquired about whether it was “more dangerous” to wait to have an abortion until she could detect her baby’s gender—which the Planned Parenthood employee told her is “usually at 5 months [18-21 weeks gestation]”—the Planned Parenthood employee stated that it is “not more dangerous. I mean, there are risks,” but quickly changed the subject, “Let me see. Your last menstrual period was February…”[xx]

Planned Parenthood’s failure to mention the significant health risks of late-term abortions imperils women’s health. Furthermore, Planned Parenthood’s negligence deprives women of their right to make an informed decision based on complete information.

Similarly, Live Action’s undercover investigation in New York City revealed Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger clinic failing to provide a woman with accurate information about the increased risks of late-term abortions. The Planned Parenthood employee, Randi Coun, responded to a question about late-term abortion complications: “The biggest difference is that after 16 weeks, the procedure becomes a 2-day procedure, rather than a procedure that’s done just on one day.”[xxi] She concludes, “So it’s not that it’s unsafe, or that there’s a lot more risk involved, it’s just there’s more steps involved.”

However, additional “steps” fails to come even close to accurately communicating the actual increased “risk” of late-term abortions. The Planned Parenthood employee’s implication to the contrary is indefensible.

However, rather than being fired, Ms. Coun was commended by Planned Parenthood’s Vice President of Education, in PPFA’s official statement. Commendation for her interaction with a “patient” in the Live Action video reveals that Planned Parenthood’s “high standards” for being a “women’s health advocate” do not require any discussion about the major complications that exponentially increase with later abortions.

Planned Parenthood’s apparently sanctioned behavior of providing women with incomplete, false, or misleading information regarding the high risks of late-term abortion places women’s very lives in the balance and deprives women the opportunity to exercise the true choice that comes from making an informed decision.