INDUCED ABORTION
Nearly 50% of all pregnancies among American women are unintended, and 4 in
10 of these are terminated by abortion. Excluding miscarriages, 25% of all
pregnancies end in abortion.
Early first-trimester abortions pose virtually no long-term risk of infertility,
ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), or congenital
malformation (birth defect), and little or no risk of preterm or low birthweight
deliveries. Very few abortion patients experience a complication that requires
hospitalization.
Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown no association between abortion
and breast cancer or any other type of cancer.
The risk of maternal death associated with abortion increases with advancing
gestational age. The maternal mortality associated with childbirth is about 12
times as high as that associated with early first-trimester abortion.