Women's Health after Abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence. (Book Review).

Elizabeth Ring-Cassidy and Ian Gentles, Women's Health after Abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence. The de Veber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research, 2002, 3089 Bathurst St., Suite 316, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2A4, www.deveber.org, ISBN 0-920453-22-8 333, pp., $24.95 Cdn.

The major evil of abortion is that it kills unborn children. It also leaves in its wake an appalling aftermath of psychological, physical, and spiritual devastation. This tragic trail is brilliantly described in this authoritative new book by Ring-Cassidy and Gentles. Though much of the information in the book is necessarily scientific and technical, it is clearly written and is easy to read and to comprehend. This is a convincing and well referenced book, based on over 500 articles from medical and surgical journals. It deals with a subject about which there has been much concealment and disinformation on the part of many in the medical profession and of other proponents of abortion. The book asks the question ... Why have the facts of abortion's ill-effects on women and on their subsequent children been concealed for so long? It makes the point that everyone has the right to be accurately informed about such matters by their physicians and by others who counsel, refer for, or perform abortions. The time ha s come for those who are involved in the abortion business to be faced with the full legal consequences when they act without obtaining valid informed consent.

The scientifically proven after-effects of abortion described in this book include:

1. An increase in the over-all risk of breast cancer by 30%. The risk is much higher in women who have a first abortion at a young age, or who have a family history of breast cancer. Since 1957, 27 of 33 world-wide studies show an increased risk of breast cancer as high as 310%.

2. An increased risk of subsequent premature births ranging from 30% to 267%.

3. Premature births increase the risk of brain damage in a baby by 38 times (3,800%). Induced abortion is, therefore, responsible for many thousands of cases of cerebral palsy in North America.

4. A significant risk of infertility, spontaneous abortion, uterine perforation, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and ectopic (fallopian tube) pregnancy, which is hazardous to the life of the mother and causes the death of the embryo.

5. A large-scale authoritative Scandinavian study establishes that post-pregnancy maternal death rates within one year are nearly four times greater among women who abort their pregnancies than among women who bear their babies. (1) Coding of deaths in hospitals frequently records only the presenting problem, e.g. hemorrhage. This results in many abortion- related deaths going unreported. (2)

6. Women who have a psychiatric history, live in abusive relationships, believe that abortion is morally wrong, are ambivalent or are adolescents, are more likely to have serious psychological problems following an abortion.

7. An abortion performed because of a major fetal malformation diagnosed during pregnancy is often a shattering experience for women, who are frequently stricken with grief, guilt, and depression. The decision to abort for genetic reasons can also have a negative impact on living children.

8. Infertile couples may resort to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Apart from the fact that IVF is itself immoral in that it commodifies the child, separates the procreative and unitive function of the marriage act, and dishonours marriage, IVF can result in the death of nine out of ten embryos, which are discarded. Three or more fetuses may be implanted. To reduce the number of fetuses in the womb (in order to increase the likelihood that one will come to term) all but one of these fetuses may be deliberately killed by being stabbed in the heart. This procedure is euphemistically called 'fetal reduction', and the parents' reactions to this procedure are similar to those experienced after abortion for genetic reasons: sadness, guilt, depression.

9. Women who abort suffer from an increased incidence of self- punishment: suicide; mutilation; drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse; and also often have trouble bonding with children of future pregnancies.

10. After abortion, a woman's marital and/or family relationships may be changed. They may end, there may be feelings of numbness, anger, or hostility. Children may feel sadness, fear, anxiety, and distrust of their parents. The husband may experience depression, guilt, anger, grief and powerlessness. He may also abuse alcohol, drugs, and sex.

11. Ring-Cassidy and Gentles point out that North American research on post-abortion effects is both biased and often methodologically flawed. Follow-up is short-term. Vested interests don't want the public to hear bad news. Negative effects are under-reported. Defective coding in hospitals and Centres of Disease Control fails accurately to record many abortion complications, including the death of the mother.

12. Pro-abortion propaganda loudly proclaims the right to 'freedom of choice', yet it conceals abortion's ill effects on the mother and on subsequent children and so denies women an informed choice. The courts in the U.S. and Canada have ruled that disclosure is what a "reasonable or prudent" patient might want to know about a procedure, rather than what a "reasonable" doctor might disclose. Common minor risks, and rare but serious or fatal risks, must be disclosed and the doctor must ensure that the patient understands what she or he has been told. Doctors who fail to do this in regard to induced abortion are liable to prosecution in the courts.

This book is telling and timely. Its message should be read by all. It will, it is to be hoped, begin to turn the tide of abortion, which has inundated our world for nearly 30 years since Roe vs. Wade.

Footnotes:

1. Gissler, M. et al., Pregnancy associated deaths in Finland. 1987-1994 - definition problems and benefits of record linkage. Acta Obstetrica et Gynaecology Scandinavica, 1997 Aug., 76 (7): 651-7.

2. Begin, I. Mortality and Morbidity Coding in Canada and the World - Pitfalls and Shortcomings. 1999. Ottawa (unpublished paper). Coding deaths in hospitals frequently records only the presenting problem. This results in many abortion-related deaths going unreported.