Dear ProLife Colleague, The prominent “Original Research” article “The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and Childbirth in the United States”, by Raymond and Grimes in the Feb, 2012, journal “Obstetrics & Gynecology,” rehearses the “original mantra” of the choice argument: “Abortion is safer than Childbirth.” To reach this conclusion, Raymond and Grimes employ statistical methodologies seen before, using inadequate or incomplete data, ignoring some important literature, and drawing general conclusions using limited and, we feel, inaccurate “facts.” AAPLOG finds this article to be a very serious distortion of reality as we understand the reality. AAPLOG’s evaluation of this “Original Research” is summed up in a commentary by Dr. Priscilla Coleman, which can be downloaded at: http://www.wecareexperts.org/content/serious-misrepresentation-relative-safety-induced-abortion-compared-childbirth-published-l-0 You need to read this 2 page commentary so you know how to refute the mantra’s misinformation. This is essential information for a prolife professional to know. You need to know that the data reported by abortion clinics to state health departments and ultimately to the CDC significantly under-represents abortion morbidity and mortality for several reasons: 1) abortion reporting is not required by federal law and many states do not report abortion-related deaths to the CDC; 2) deaths due to medical and surgical treatments are reported under the complication of the procedure (e.g., infection) rather than the treatment (e.g., induced abortion); 3) most women leave abortion clinics within hours of the procedure and go to hospital emergency rooms if there are complications that may result in death; 4) suicide deaths are rarely, if ever, linked back to abortion in state reporting of death rates; 5) an abortion experience can lead to physical and/or psychological disturbances that increase the likelihood of dying years after the abortion, and these indirect abortion-related deaths are not captured at all. We urge you: download this information, and get a basic handle on it. Abortion is NOT safer than childbirth!. More commentary coming in subsequent letters. Jdc/AAPLOG
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