Abortion raises risk for subsequent babies

WASHINGTON — A new analysis of 37 different studies shows abortion entails a “significantly increased risk” of premature birth and low birth weight in a woman’s subsequent babies.

The meta-analysis by Canadian researcher Prakesh Shah found that a woman who had an abortion in the first six months of a pregnancy later had a 35 percent greater risk of a baby with low birth weight and a 36 percent increased risk of a premature baby.

The analysis showed a woman with more than one abortion had a 72 percent greater risk for a low birth weight child and a 93 percent increased risk for a premature baby. The meta-analysis by Shah, a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, was published Sept. 16 in the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Shah’s research spanned 37 studies from 1965 to 2001.