Access to safe and legal abortion is vital to a woman’s health, right?
That’s why phrases such as “reproductive health” are so commonly used, right?
Besides, the medical risks giving birth are greater than the risks of having an abortion, right?
Wrong.
The lies that roam the Internet and fill the minds of women around the globe are appalling.
It is far too often that people hear that abortion benefits women’s physical and psychological health without taking time to delve into the facts and evaluate the evidence. Regardless of where you stand on this heated topic, there is one thing we can all agree upon: Women deserve to know the truth, especially when the truth reveals something detrimental.
Studies from different countries and cultures are constantly revealing the multitude of ways abortion damages a woman’s health. Although statistics published in news aggregates such as U.S. News and Reuters claim that a woman is 14 times more likely to die in childbirth than during an abortion in the United States, these studies fail to acknowledge the long-term implications of abortion.
One study that does take a look at the bigger picture found that the death rates of women in the years following an abortion were significantly higher than those of women who had given birth. This Danish study published in the Medical Science Monitor examined the fertility, abortion and death records of 463,473 women in their child-bearing years. The results concluded that over a 10-year time span after women either had an abortion or gave birth, the women who had an abortion were 80 percent more likely to die than women who did not.
Health hazards of abortion are not limited to physical health. Mental and emotional problems of varying levels of severity commonly ensue after abortion.
Denmark is not the only country that has found shocking long-term health dangers resulting from abortion. A report published in the medical journal Cancer Causes and Control analyzed 36 studies from 14 provinces in China to discover a connection between abortion and breast cancer. To deem the findings as a mere connection, though, would be an understatement. Women who had one abortion were 44 percent more likely to develop breast cancer later in life.
Studies such as these go beyond the immediate risks of abortion versus childbirth. To say that abortion is not dangerous because women are 14 times more likely to die in childbirth is flawed logic entirely. It would be the same as claiming that smoking is not dangerous because the likelihood of dying while actually smoking a cigarette is extremely low. The health hazards that come years later as a result of smoking are what make cigarettes so damaging. Likewise, the long-term physical harms of abortion need to be taken into consideration.
Health hazards of abortion are not limited to physical health. Mental and emotional problems of varying levels of severity commonly ensue after abortion. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that women who had an abortion were 81 percent more likely to suffer from mental health issues, which ranged from substance abuse to suicidal behavior.
These are the studies that do not show up first when searching abortion on Google, but these are the studies that are crucial for women to know. Women deserve better than lies, and they deserve better than abortion. How will you spread the truth?
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Feature Photo credit: Tommy McMillion, meme agency
Love your headline! I think its a great way to start a conversation that both grabs attention and is inviting to both sides right off the bat. I feel like too often people from one side of this debate write articles that only people from their side would read, but you did a good job of targeting pro choice readers right at the beginning and not ostracizing them with your headline and then even throughout the article. Very fair, equal analysis. Great job.