“The public is misled into believing that legal abortion is a trivial incident, even a lunch-hour procedure, which can be used as a mere extension of contraceptive practice. There has been almost a conspiracy of silence in declaring [abortion’s] risks. Unfortunately, because of emotional reactions to legal abortion, well documented evidence from countries with a vast experience of it, receives little or no attention in either the medical or lay press. This is medically indefensible when patients suffer as a result…It is significant that some of the more serious complications occurred with the most senior and experienced operators…”
Stallworthy, J.A., et al., “Legal Abortion: A Critical Assessment of Risk,” The Lancet, December 4, 1971
This is an old reference, but it is significant because it documents the fact that legalization of abortion (it was legal in several states in 1971) did not end abortion’s dangers. Many illegal abortion practitioners simply became legal ones.
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