A study published in the October issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine argues that elective abortion is a significant risk factor for subsequent pre-term births.

[N]early 32 per cent of "very-preterm" U.S. births, that is, before 32 weeks gestation, are due to the mother having had a prior abortion. This information, combined with previous research in the relation between low birth weight children and cerebral palsy (CP), results in an estimated 1,096 children suffering from CP because of their mother's prior abortion.
. . .
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 authors estimate that the direct costs to the US health care system arising from increased neonatal health costs due to abortion-induced pre-term babies totaled over $1.2 billion in 2002.

This study corroborates earlier investigations.

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”.

Other previous studies are summarised here.

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