Complications of direct abortion include:
- Death as a consequence of an abortion
The risk of death in women undergoing legal abortion. This risk increases by 38% with the next week (from 12) of pregnancy, which undergoes an abortion. This rate is 14.7 in 13-15 weeks of pregnancy and 16-20 weeks of pregnancy. The risk of death is 76.6.
As a result of legal abortion in the United States, 101 women died within 7 years (legal abortion is one of the first five causes of maternal mortality there).
- Haemorrhage and genital damage
The second most common complication is haemorrhage (1.5 in 1000) occurring during or after the procedure. The cause is incomplete trophoblast removal, cervical tearing or puncture of the uterine wall (1-4 in 1000). Puncture of the uterus can lead to damage to internal organs, mainly intestines. The result may be peritonitis and haemorrhagic shock.
- Genital infection
The most common complication associated with surgical termination of pregnancy is infection of the genital organs (49% of cases) and pelvis, up to peritonitis. Sometimes the infection is asymptomatic until a septic shock complication occurs, which if untreated leads to the development of Disseminated Inravascular Coagulation (DIC). The lack of specialist treatment results in the death of the woman in such cases.
The consequences of a distant time are revealed a few days or weeks after the abortion. They pose a serious threat to a woman’s health and even, if treated improperly or not at all, can be a direct cause of death.
Complications of late abortion include anaemia and local and generalized infections. Local infection usually includes the cervical and molar mucosa as well as the fallopian tubes and ovaries. If untreated, it can spread to the pelvic organs or even to the entire abdominal cavity. Even though antibiotics are used, the infection may become chronic or abscesses of the fallopian tubes or the smaller pelvis may develop. As a late generalized complication, thrombotic pelviculitis may also develop with subsequent abscesses. Blood clots may cause fatal lung embolism.
Venereal diseases, most often gonorrhea and cilia, cause PID – pelvic peritonitis. If they occur in women after an artificial abortion, they cause many serious complications. Some studies have shown an increase of 17% in post-workout infections of the gonorrhea.
There are also distant complications of abortion such as infertility, recurrent inflammation of the reproductive tract and menstrual disorders with no ovulation. Some authors report that termination of pregnancy causes in 1/3 of the women during the five-year observation period the monthly cycle disorders including ovulation disorders. The abortion procedure may have a negative impact on the next pregnancy.
As a result of the abortion an ectopic pregnancy may develop, spontaneous miscarriage, premature birth, also as a result of cervical insufficiency. The probability of birth before the 32nd week of pregnancy is 2.5 times higher in a woman after a single abortion and more than 5 times higher if there have been more procedures in the past.
Ectopic pregnancy is a serious complication, because in 20% of cases internal bleeding occurs due to rupture of the fallopian tube. The frontal or the placenta are also more likely to complicate the third period of labor. Complications during or after termination of pregnancy can lead to infertility. This can result from infectious complications and can also lead to obstruction of the fallopian tubes or overgrowth of the uterine cavity (Ascherman syndrome).
A distant complication of the abortion procedure is musculoskeletal insufficiency. The disease is manifested by premature opening of the cervix and loss of pregnancy in the middle trimester. Another distant complication after termination of the pregnancy following a pelvic infection after the procedure is the presence of adhesions in the peritoneal cavity. These adhesions can cause pelvic pain and bowel obstruction.
One of the causes of chronic pelvic pain is somatization of a problem that a woman has never dealt with. The distant consequences, which are somatization of mental problems, may manifest themselves in many aspects of the body’s functioning with abdominal pain: ulcer disease or gastrointestinal motor disorders, joint pain.
A study in the USA showed that the risk of breast cancer in women who were pregnant and had an abortion is 50% higher. The risk of breast cancer has increased to 150% for women under 18.
There is also a distant problem of termination of pregnancy in women with Rh negative blood group. Serological conflict is a serious complication of pregnancy if the woman is not given anti-D immunoglobulin until 72 hours after abortion.
The dissemination of reliable knowledge about the health consequences of abortion, i.e. the murder of the unborn child, is an important task of defenders of human life. Awareness-raising is aimed at caring for women’s physical, mental and spiritual health.