2-17-13 Dear ProLife Colleague, This week’s episode of “Surrender the Secret” deals with “how have you handled the anger associated with your abortion?” Or maybe the question is “Did you handle the anger…..or is it still eating at you, still distorting who you really are?” You can access all the 4 episodes of this real life experience of 5 post-abortal women (some 25 years post-abortal). Start with episode one to get to know these women. Access the programs at: http://www.knocktv.com/surrenderthesecret/all-episodes/ Right now many of us doctors are angry at the March of Dimes Pre Term Birth information. Well, maybe angry is not the right word. We are happy for their recognition that preterm birth is a major problem in America, and encourage them to keep stressing the problem and some of the partial solutions. But we are deeply disappointed with with their failure to even mention one of the most significant and most preventable risk factors: previous induced abortion. A look at their website yesterday found not a mention of induced abortion among the various risk factors listed. It is just not there. And it is a preventable associaton. No induced abortions means no increased risk of preterm birth from that source. One induced abortion is associated with a 30% increase in the “normal” rate of preterm birth. Two induced abortions is associated with a 60 to 90% increase in the rate of preterm birth. It is as simple as that. And there are 135 (count them: 135) studies that validate this association Why don’t they even mention it?? Ask them when you give your next donation. The essential question is, “Since their basic mission is to help women avoid preterm birth, why do they not even mention a major –and completely preventable—risk factor in their literature?? (Smoking cigarettes is the other major completely preventable risk factor, and that is mentioined prominently.) What kind of preventive help is the March of Dimes offering women by omitting even the mention of a major preventable risk factor for preterm birth? After all, preterm birth is the major cause of newborn death. Again, ask them about this omission when your give your next donation. The most recent study comes out of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The researchers found that, on average, women who had one prior induced abortion were 45% more likely to have premature births by 32 weeks, 71% more likely to have premature births by 28 weeks, and 117% more likely to have premature births by 26 weeks. The study also found that the risk of premature births increased in women who had more than one prior abortion. “Our study showed a significant increase in the risk of preterm delivery in women with a history of previous induced abortion,” said lead researcher Dr. Ghislain Hardy. “This association was stronger with decreasing gestational age,” she concluded. Surprise, surprise! This is the same association between induced abortion and subsequent preterm birth found in the previous 135 studies have shown. And this is a completely preventable risk factor for preterm birth. Resident doctors, medical students: ask your professors why this is basically off the risk factor radar screen. Like, 135 studies are not enough? A LifeSiteNews article pertaining to this study can be found at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abortion-linked-to-significantly-increased-chance-of-preterm-birth-canadian?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifesitenewscomLatestHeadlines+%28LifeSiteNews.com+Latest+Headlines%29