Pre-Term Birth and Cerebral Palsy Linked to Abortion

A new study appearing in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine shows a link between previous abortions and pre-term births:

The study’s authors, with the Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition based in Vancouver, are Dr. Byron Calhoun an obstetrics and gynecology professor at Western Virginia University, Dr. Elizabeth Shadigian, obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan and Brent Rooney the research director. They concluded that prior induced abortion is a significant risk factor in very pre-term births and cerebral palsy.

The research backs up previous findings published in 2006 by Dr. Richard E. Behrman of Stanford University’s Institute of Medicine, that named “prior first trimester induced abortion” as “immutable medical risk factor associated with preterm birth”.

Very pre-term babies have much higher than normal risks of suffering medical problems including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, lung impairment and serious infections.

The estimate combines a study of 58,717 newborns with a birth weight under 1500 grams (3 pounds 5 ounces) most of whom were very-preterm. Calhoun estimated that since 31.5 per cent of children born with very low birth weight are due to prior induced abortions. Approximately 7.7 per cent of children with very low birth weight develop CP, at least 1,096 cases of CP are directly associated with the mother’s prior abortion.