New Study: Abortion Increases Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases

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Washington, D.C.—A new longitudinal peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute has shown that abortions are an independent risk factor for increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the leading cause of death among women.

These findings are among a growing body of medical literature linking abortion to reduced cardiovascular health, including another U.S. study reporting a fivefold increased risk of death from cerebrovascular diseases within six years of an abortion. Another study found an 18% elevated risk of CVD following abortion or miscarriage that persisted for over twelve years.

This latest study examined medical records for over one million Medicaid-eligible women between 1999 and 2014 to detect treatments for CVD within six months of their first live birth. The researchers divided women into five groups.

In every case, women with a history of abortion or miscarriage had higher rates of CVD following their first live birth compared to women with a similar CVD history but did not have a history of pregnancy loss. Among women with a history of CVD prior to their first pregnancy, those who had an abortion were over twice as likely to have additional CVD problems in the six months following a first live birth compared to similar women with a prior history of CVD who did not have an abortion.

The greatest difference was observed as a 174% increased risk of CVD among women whose first diagnosis of CVD occurred after their abortion or miscarriage and before their first live birth.

“While miscarriages are tragic and unavoidable, elective abortions are entirely avoidable and clearly contribute to the number one cause of death in our country,” said one of the study authors, David Reardon, Ph.D., a Lozier Institute associate scholar and director of the Elliot Institute. “The American Heart Association has been vocal in warning women of the link between miscarriage and heart disease. I hope that these numbers will motivate a similar warning on abortions.”

“Despite this in-depth data pointing to the clear negative health outcomes abortion places on a woman’s body, abortion activists continue to push abortions as a ‘cure-all.’ How long will they deny science and reality? I encourage them to stop lying to women, stating that abortion only produces positive physical and mental health outcomes,” said Emily Erin Davis, vice president of communications at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

“Those of us who are tethered to reality recognize that promoting abortion is not empowering nor is it a net positive to women and children’s health,” she continued, “I encourage abortion activists to stop portraying abortion as an always beneficial and healthy experience and to open their eyes to the negative mental and physical realities that it places on the woman and her child. Women deserve better and it starts with the complete unvarnished truth.”

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women.

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