Essay --

ROME, SEPT. 21, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Advocates of abortion often insist that it needs to be legal and readily available so as to reduce health risks for women. Some recent studies show, however, that abortion brings with it considerable risks. Research in Finland published in the journal â€Å"Human Reproduction† collected data from all 300,858 first-time mothers in Finland between 1996 and 2008, LifeNews.com reported on Sept. 6. The results showed that women were three times more likely to have a very premature baby, born before 28 weeks, if they had had three or more abortions. According to an analysis of the findings published by LifeNews.com and written by Dr. Peter Saunders, it is an important study, but by no means the first revealing such risks. He said there are â€Å"around 120 articles in the world literature already attesting to an association between abortion and premature birth.† Nevertheless, the Finnish study carries a lot of weight due to the large number of women in it and also because it controlled for factors such as maternal age, socioeconomic level and various health factors. Similar results were found in another study also recently published. Lead researcher Professor Siladitya Bhattacharya, chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Aberdeen, and his colleagues studied how differing methods of abortion affected the future likelihood of premature births, the Medical Daily Web site reported on Sept. 5. They looked at the records of Scottish women from 1981 to 2007 and found that abortions increased the risk of giving birth prematurely in future pregnancies by an average of 37% compared to women who had never been pregnant before. Complications The study was presented at the British Science Festival.... ...esult from the pharmaceutical. Wright put at 14 the number of women who have died in the United States as a result of using RU-486 since it was legalized. Nevertheless, the push to make RU-486 available continues. In Australia until now only a small number of doctors were authorized to administer it, but now pharmacies will be able to sell it following a decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Australian newspaper reported Aug. 31. In the past six years that RU-486 has been available in Australia, TGA figures show 792 cases of "adverse events" from the use of the drugs. â€Å"Women facing un-supported pregnancy should be offered real choices by our society, not a dangerous chemical to poison their unborn child,† commented Wendy Francis for the Australian Christian Lobby. A valid point not only for Australia but for other countries as well.