J. Reproductive Med.: Cost Consequences of Induced Abortion as an Attributable Risk for Preterm Birth and its Impact on Informed Consent.

• Author: Calhoun, Byron
• Position: Reprint

This is the first article ever to estimate the number of infants born with cerebral palsy in the United States due to the mothers' prior induced abortions. In 2002, women delivered 486,629 preterm babies, of which 72,751 were very-preterm babies with much higher risk of cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, lung impairment, and serious infections than full-term babies. The authors estimate that 31.5% of nearly 73,000 very-preterm babies in 2002 were due to prior induced abortions. Thus, 22,917 of the very-preterm infants were born prematurely due to their...