Abortion: Is It Really A Choice?

•Assault victims often report that someone else made the abortion decision for them. The pressure to abort can escalate to violence or even murder.
•Teens have been taken to clinics for forced abortions and returned to their rapists.
•64% of women surveyed after abortion report feeling pressured into unwanted abortions.
•Homicide is the leading cause of death of pregnant women.
•54% were not sure about their decision at the time, yet 79% were not counseled about alternatives.
•A survey of women who had an abortion of a sexual assault pregnancy revealed that many only aborted because they felt pressured.
• Most abortionists don’t screen for risk factors or determine whether abortion will benefit their patients. Proper screening would eliminate 70% or more of all abortions.
•78% of those who aborted had regrets and said that abortion was the wrong solution.
• Those women who didn’t abort had no regrets.

Forced Abortion In America (2006) Elliot Institute, www.theunchoice.com/resources.htm.

Abortion Among Teens

•Teenagers are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last six months than are teens who have not had an abortion, and four times more likely to commit suicide than adults who abort.
•Teens who abort are more likely to develop psychological problems and are nearly three times more likely to be admitted to mental health hospitals than teens in general.
•About 40% of teen abortions take place with no parental involvement, leaving parents in the dark about subsequent emotional or physical problems and putting them at risk for injury and death.
•Teens report more severe pain during the abortion procedure than do adult women. Teens are also twice as likely to experience dangerous cervical lacerations compared to older women.
•Studies have found that teens are at higher risk for post-abortion infections such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and endometritis. These infections increase their risk of infertility, hysterectomy, ectopic pregnancy, and other serious complications.
•Teens are more likely to have riskier late-term abortions. According to the CDC, approximately 30% of abortions among teens take place at 13 weeks gestation or later, compared to only 12% among women.
•Teens who abort are likely to become pregnant again within the next few years. Among pregnant teens, those who had had an abortion were at least 4 times more likely to abort again.

Teen Abortion Risks Fact Sheet, Elliot Institute. www.AfterAbortion.org.