Abortion Risks
Abortion Risks
Since 1973, American women have had the legal right to obtain an abortion throughout the U.S. and its territories at any time of the pregnancy. In all states, a minor is allowed to end a pregnancy, without parental consent, and a woman can abort her baby without the consent of the baby’s father.
Abortion is a relatively inexpensive operation. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institutes’ web site, “In 2001 the average charge for a surgical abortion at 10 weeks’ gestation was $468; but since most abortions in the United States are performed at low-cost clinics, women on average paid $372 for the procedure” (information accessed from AGI website, July 2006). The cost in dollars, however, should not be the only consideration.
Abortion means killing an unborn child.
There are psychological risks involved as well.
Abortion presents eternal risks for the mother and others involved in the decision.
Since 1973, American women have had the legal right to obtain an abortion throughout the U.S. and its territories at any time of the pregnancy. In all states, a minor is allowed to end a pregnancy, without parental consent, and a woman can abort her baby without the consent of the baby’s father.
Abortion is a relatively inexpensive operation. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institutes’ web site, “In 2001 the average charge for a surgical abortion at 10 weeks’ gestation was $468; but since most abortions in the United States are performed at low-cost clinics, women on average paid $372 for the procedure” (information accessed from AGI website, July 2006). The cost in dollars, however, should not be the only consideration.
Abortion means killing an unborn child.
- Abortion advocates tend to gloss over that fact by referring to the baby as a fetus or embryo — words chosen to distance the mother from the reality of the human life inside her.
- From the moment of conception we have a unique life and genetic structure. Just 21 days after conception, a child’s heart is beating and circulating its own blood. Abortion stops that beating heart.
- It is important to recognize that the Bible reveals that human life exists at conception. In Psalm 51:5 the writer tells us that he was sinful from the time he was conceived. God holds human beings accountable for sin — not “bundles of tissue” or “just part of the mother’s body.” God forbids us to take human life without his command (Deuteronomy 5:17). In an abortion, an unborn child is not only removed from its mother’s womb, it is killed. Abortion is intended to be 100% fatal to the child.
- Abortions incur major physical and psychological risks which should not be ignored.
- Two separate French studies found that women who have an induced abortion face a 50 percent greater chance of ectopic pregnancy (where the embryo implants in a fallopian tube). Ectopic pregnancies are the leading cause of maternal death in the first trimester. Women who have abortions also report greater incidences of subsequent infertility and sterility. (Source: American Journal of Public Health, March 1998)
- Statistics show there is a 50 percent increase in the risk of breast cancer for women who have had an induced abortion before a first full-term birth. There is also evidence that indicates women who abort are more likely to experience other cancers, such as endometrial, cervical, and ovarian cancer. (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, October 1996)
- Another frightening statistic is the increased rate of HIV infection among women who have had an abortion. Prestigious medical journals such as the Lancet (1992; 340: 707-709) and the British Medical Journal (1992; 304: 1082-1085) report that women who have an induced abortion have a higher risk (154 percent and 554 percent, respectively) of contracting HIV-1 than women who carry their child to term.
There are psychological risks involved as well.
- The British Medical Journal (1991, 302:137-140) reported that women who had an induced abortion had a 208 percent increased risk of attempting suicide in the year following the abortion. This finding is backed by numerous other studies, many of which point out that women who do not abort their children have a 60 percent reduced incidence of suicide during their pregnancy.
- Post-abortion syndrome (PAS) is also a risk that is often overlooked. Many women don’t feel the effects of PAS until five or more years after the abortion. Women have trouble dealing with the guilt that comes from the realization that they have ended a life. Pregnancy counselors report that more and more women are divorcing their spouses or leaving their boyfriends following their abortions.
Abortion presents eternal risks for the mother and others involved in the decision.
- The majority of women facing the abortion decision consider themselves Christians in one way or another. The Bible speaks of the eternal consequences of abortion and states that taking human life is wrong. According to God, the mother must preserve the life of the unborn child. Knowing this, but still pursuing an abortion, presents an eternal risk. God’s Word also says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17). Sin earns for us eternal punishment from God (Romans 6:23 and Matthew 25:41-46). Personal philosophies about God cannot cover up the truth of what God’s Word says: abortion takes the life of a child and to do so places one’s own eternal soul at risk.