Researchers analysing 17 years of comprehensive Medicaid claims data, in a first of its kind research from Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) found that women whose first pregnancy ended in abortion had on average :
- 53% more miscarriages than women whose pregnancy ended in live birth.
- 35% more pregnancies over their reproductive lifetime
- More than 4 times as many abortions
- Only half the number of live births
Separate peer reviewed research finds that women exposed to multiple induced abortions are at an increased risk of:
- Extremely preterm (premature) birth in future pregnancies based on an analysis of more than 400 000 pregnancies in Finland.
- Low birth weight in future pregnancies based on a review of 37 studies.
- Poor mental health, based on an analysis of data from the “National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent To Adult Health”, finding that each abortion increased the risk of mental health problems by 23%.
- Premature death, based on an analysis of the pregnancy and mortality records of more than one million women, finding that the risk of death increased with each successive abortion.
Tessa Longbons, CLI’s senior research associate and co-author of the new peer reviewed study, said:
- A woman’s first pregnancy shapes the course of her life. That’s my key takeaway from 17 years of data.