Researchers released last week revealed that medical errors are the third-leading cause of death, outranked only by heart disease and cancer. In the wake of a serious crisis in medical care, Republican politicians have turned their attention not to making care safer, but instead to vilifying one of the safest available medical procedures—abortion.
Anti-choicers have built their platform on an avalanche of lies, so it's no wonder so many women facing an unwanted pregnancy are terrified of even uttering the word “abortion.” When their attempts to guilt women out of terminating their pregnancies fail, anti-choicers turn to fear-mongering. They tell women abortion is linked to breast cancer, that it can destroy fertility, and that women routinely die from their abortions.
Don't let these fear-mongering tactics paralyze you. Every woman needs to make a decision based on her values, but concerns about safety should not dissuade you from an abortion you need. Numerous studies have documented the safety of abortion, especially as compared to childbirth. Abortion remains among the safest medical procedures.
If Republicans really cared about women, they would turn their attention to the perils of childbirth, rather than attempting to regulate out of existence a procedure that continues to save lives.
How Safe is Abortion Compared to Other Medical Procedures?
The abortion death rate in 2010 was roughly 1 woman for every 200,000 abortions. It might sound scary that anyone ever dies from an abortion, but every medical procedure comes with some risks. The death rate from dental procedures involving anesthesia is similar, at 1 in 400,000. Tonsillectomy—a common procedure that almost no one considers risky—carries a death rate of 1 in 16,000. That means people getting their tonsils removed die at a rate 1,250% that of women undergoing abortions.
Complications from Abortion
No one wants to be one of the very small fraction of women who die from their abortions, but there's good news here, too. Most women who die from abortion had another medical condition going into the procedure. In many cases, the death could have been prevented if the woman called her doctor after experiencing complications or took the antibiotics her doctor prescribed. That's not to say women should be blamed for abortion complications. But it does suggest that a little caution and a commitment to good medical care can prevent many abortion complications.
What about other abortion side effects? There is no evidence linking a single abortion to breast cancer, and safe, legal, correctly performed abortions do not cause fertility problems. The complication rate for abortion hovers around 2%--lower than that of wisdom tooth removal—and most complications are relatively minor. They include:
-
Excessive bleeding that, in rare cases, may necessitate a blood transfusion.
-
Uterine infections that may require additional antibiotics.
-
Very rarely, uterine adhesions that require removal.
-
An incomplete abortion that requires an additional procedure.
Abortion vs. Childbirth: Safety Statistics
Women who don't have abortions only have one other choice—giving birth. So how do the risks of giving birth compare to the risks of abortion? There's simply no comparison. Almost 9 women die for every 100,000 that give birth. And stunningly, 94% of births involve some form of complication. Though most of those complications are minor, the abortion complication rate pales in comparison.
What about the mental health of the pregnant woman? There's good news here, too. Although some women experience distress after an abortion, there is no evidence of widespread post-abortion syndrome. The statistics for childbirth, by contrast, are quite grim: 1 in 3 women suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after giving birth.
Anti-choicers are systematically pushing women toward the more dangerous option—childbirth—by falsely citing concerns about their safety and well-being. No matter how you feel about abortion, there's no excuse for this sort of misleading and abusive fear-mongering.
Abortion Clinics Online is dedicated to helping women access safe and legal abortions near their homes. To find an abortion clinic in your area, click here.
