Secretary,
Abortion Supervisory Committee,
Dear Ms Cole
Standards of Care for Women Requesting Induced Abortion in New Zealand 2009
It is noted that Standard 23 includes at the beginning the statement:-
“Abortion is safer than continuing a pregnancy to term and complications are uncommon.”
This statement raises several important questions;
- I wish to ask what evidence does the Committee have to support this statement?
- Would you please confirm that this information is required to be given verbally and in writing to women seeking an abortion?
This is a false statement that conveys the message that your unborn child is a threat to your life and health and that it would be in the interest of your health to kill the child in your womb.
We are aware that since the passing of the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act in 1977 your Committee has reported that more than 500,000 children have been killed in their mother’s womb and that there have been no reported deaths of mothers. This is an extraordinary statistic that is not supported by international statistics.
I wish to bring to your attention a year 2000 government-funded study in Finland which revealed that women who abort are four times more likely to die in the year following the abortion than women who carry their pregnancies to term. Women who carry to term are only half as likely to die as women who are not pregnant.
Researchers from the statistical analysis unit of Finland’s National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health examined death certificate records for all women of reproductive age (fifteen to forty-nine) who died between 1987 and 1994, a total of 9,029 women. Then they examined the national health care database to identify pregnancy-related events for the women in the twelve months prior to their deaths.
The researchers found that, compared to women who carried to term, women who had aborted in the year prior to their deaths were 60 percent more likely to die from natural causes, seven times more likely to die from suicide, four times more likely to die of injuries related to accidents and fourteen times more likely to die from homicide. Researchers believe that the higher rate of deaths related to accidents and homicide may be linked to higher rates of suicidal or risk-taking behaviour.
I also wish to draw your attention to the following recent study; Pregnancy associated death in record linkage studies relative to delivery, termination of pregnancy, and natural losses: A systematic review with a narrative synthesis and meta-analysis. Reardon DC, Thorp JM. Sage Open Medicine. Vol 5:1-17, 2017
According to this study Each Abortion Increases Woman’s Risk of Premature Death by 50%,
Legal abortion contributes to a fifty percent increased risk of premature death in women, according to a new systematic review that examined 989 studies of deaths associated with pregnancy outcomes.
Within the first 180 days, the risk of death from any cause is over twice as high following abortion compared to that following delivery. The risk of early death remains elevated for at least ten years.
Both abortion and miscarriage are linked to elevated mortality rates, but the effect is more strongly associated with induced abortions.
The largest portion of premature deaths following pregnancy loss are due to suicides, accidents, homicides, and some natural causes, such as circulatory disease, which are known to be associated with stress.
The reviewers concluded that these findings are best explained by the psychological effects of pregnancy loss, which contribute to elevated levels of stress, substance abuse, risk taking, and self-destructive behaviours.
The studies reviewed also reveal a dose effect, with each exposure to abortion adding approximately a 50 percent increased risk of premature death compared to women who have never had abortions.
In contrast, delivering two or more pregnancies improves longevity. Delivery is also linked with a reduction in mortality risks associated with abortion or miscarriage alone.
The systematic review, published in Sage Open Medicine, identified 989 maternal death studies, of which 68 were of the highest quality. These higher quality studies were those that linked death certificates with other medical records to identify recent pregnancy outcomes. Since death certificates often lack information about recent pregnancies, studies based on death certificates alone have been proven to be notoriously incomplete.
Of the 68 higher quality record linkage studies identified by the research team, only 11 provided results to allow comparison between death rates associated with different pregnancy outcomes: birth, abortion, miscarriage or other natural losses
It is contended that it is not possible to accurately compare the maternal mortality rate with the abortion mortality rate. Firstly abortion is never safe for the child as an abortion always entails the death of an innocent human being who is killed in the womb. The maternal mortality rate in New Zealand includes the death of the mother from birth up to three months.
The accuracy of statistics for maternal deaths from abortion are questioned as it is believed that many deaths of women from an abortion are not attributed to the abortion but to another cause. Abortion deaths reported are believed to be only those that occur at the time of the abortion.
It is contended that some maternal deaths are the result of a previous abortion.
The statement ignores the fact that there are very long term complications resulting from abortions which include miscarriage or preterm birth which ca result in the death of the child.
In conclusion Right to Life requests that the Committee consider deleting this statement from Standard 23 and revokes its requirement that it be given to women orally and in writing.
Yours sincerely
Ken Orr,
Secretary,
Right to Life.
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