• In 1973, abortion was enshrined as a constitutional "right" by the U.S. Supreme Court without any real consideration of the impact of abortion on maternal health. No medical data was entered into the legal record. In fact, when Roe v. Wade was decided four decades ago, there were few, if any, peer-reviewed studies related to the long-term risks of abortion.  

• Medical evidence proves that there are much more than "small" risks involved in abortion; abortion carries significant short- and long-term physical risks, as well as serious psychological risks. In fact, medical evidence now reveals that the risk of mortality is higher following abortion than it is following childbirth and that these risks increase substantially later in pregnancy.

• Minors are even more susceptible to these short-term risks than are older women.

• Medical abortions caused by abortion-inducing drugs (such as RU-486) also carry particular short-term risks. The drug's label acknowledges that "[n]early all of the women who receive Mifeprex and misoprostol will report adverse  reactions, and many can be expected to report more than one such reaction."  

• Furthermore, RU-486 (also known as the Mifeprex regimen) has only been tested on women aged 18 to 46. We simply do not yet know how the use of the Mifeprex regimen has impacted young women; however, we do know that, as of April 30, 2011, the FDA knew of 2,207 adverse events in the U.S. related to the use of RU-486, including hemorrhaging, blood loss requiring transfusions, serious infections, and women's deaths. Among the 2,207 adverse events were 14 deaths, 612 hospitalizations, 339 blood transfusions, and 256 infections (including 48 "severe" infections).  

• There is substantial medical data demonstrating that abortion can have a significant long-term physical impact. Three of the best documented areas are 1) an increased risk of pre-term birth in subsequent pregnancies, 2) an increased risk of placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies, and 3) an increased risk of breast cancer.  

• According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, premature birth is the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. It is also a risk factor for later disabilities for the child, such as cerebral palsy and behavioral problems.  

• Given the significant increased risk of pre-term birth following abortion, the millions of women who have had or will have abortions, and the fact that up to 75 percent of women who abort will have a subsequent pregnancy, the potential impact of women's abortions on subsequent pregnancies is overwhelming.  

• Placenta previa occurs when the placenta covers all or part of the cervix during pregnancy; if it persists until labor, it carries substantial risks for both the mother and the unborn child. For the mother, the risks of placenta previa include life-threatening hemorrhage and post-partum hemorrhage. Risks to the child include pre-term birth and perinatal death.  

• Thus, as with pre-term birth, the more abortions a woman has, the higher her risk of placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies. And again, because the vast majority of women who have had or will have abortions will have a subsequent pregnancy, this risk is substantial and affects hundreds of thousands of American women and their children.

• Currently, at least 53 out of 68 worldwide studies demonstrate an association between abortion and subsequent breast cancer. One of the most prominent of these studies was conducted by pro-choice researcher Dr. Janet Daling and specifically funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Daling found that "among women who had been pregnant at least once, the risk of breast cancer in those who had experienced an induced abortion was 50 percent higher than among other women." Rather than the typical 12 percent lifetime chance of developing breast cancer, a woman who aborted was found to have an 18 percent lifetime chance. Among women with a family history of breast cancer, Daling found an increased risk of 80 percent. Tragically, Daling found an increase in risk of 100 percent (a doubled risk) for women who obtained an abortion before the age of 18. For women who had a family history of breast cancer and obtained an abortion before the age of 18, the risk of subsequent breast cancer development was incalculably high. All 12 women in the study that fit into this category developed breast cancer by the age of 45.  

• Numerous peer-reviewed studies have examined the effect abortion has on the mental state of women and confirm that abortion poses significant risks, including increased risk of depression, anxiety, and even suicide.  Women face an 81 percent increased risk of mental health problems following abortion. Specifically, women with a history of abortion had a 34 percent increased risk of anxiety, a 37 percent increased risk of depression, a 110 percent increased risk of alcohol use, and a 155 percent increased risk of suicide following abortion.  

• Significantly, the Fergusson study found that 27 percent of women who aborted reported experiencing suicidal ideation, with as many as 50 percent of minors experiencing suicide or suicidal ideation. The risk of suicide was three times greater for women who aborted than for women who delivered. Likewise, the researchers found that 42 percent of women who aborted reported major depression by age 25, and 39 percent of post-abortive women suffered from anxiety disorders by age 25.  

• Compared to women who delivered, women who had an early or late abortion had significantly higher mortality rates within 1 through 10 years.

• The incidence of death following abortion clearly illustrates the danger of later-term abortions. Compared to an abortion at eight weeks gestation, the relative risk of mortality increases exponentially (by 38 percent for each additional week) at higher gestations.  

• Researchers have concluded that it may not be possible to reduce the risk of death in later-term abortions because of the "inherently greater technical complexity of later abortions." This is because a later-term abortion requires a greater degree of cervical dilation, the increased blood flow in a later-term abortion predisposes the woman to hemorrhage, and the myometrium (middle layer of the uterine wall) is relaxed and more subject to perforation.  

Conclusion

Abortion advocates claim that abortion is a safe procedure and is, in fact, "safer" than childbirth. These claims are false and ignore the medical data. Abortion causes harm - both physical and psychological - and this harm impacts large numbers of American women every year. Given that over 50 million abortions have been performed since 1973, the number of women harmed by abortion is considerable and growing.  

(The full report is available here) http://www.aul.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Abortions-Medical-Risks-2013.pdf  

Summary of health risks
http://www.realhealthcarerespectslife.com/summary-of-known-health-risks-of-abortion/

(A)  the physician's name;

(B)  the particular medical risks associated with the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when medically accurate:
(i)  the risks of infection and hemorrhage;
(ii)  the potential danger to a subsequent pregnancy and of infertility; and
(iii)  the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer;

(C)  the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed; and

(D)  the medical risks associated with carrying the child to term;  

In addition,

"the physician who is to perform the abortion provides, in a manner understandable to a layperson, a verbal explanation of the results of the sonogram images, including a medical description of the dimensions of the embryo or fetus, the presence of cardiac activity, and the presence of external members and internal organs;" (and)  

"the physician who is to perform the abortion or an agent of the physician who is also a sonographer certified by a national registry of medical sonographers makes audible the heart auscultation for the pregnant woman to hear, if present, in a quality consistent with current medical practice and provides, in a manner understandable to a layperson, a simultaneous verbal explanation of the heart auscultation."

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/HS/htm/HS.171.htm