I am Dr. Lance Radbill, an obstetrician-gynecologist -- OBG for short. You may have heard people say that abortion is safer than childbirth. Actually, this is incorrect; here are the facts:

Maternal deaths rates used in comparisons actually include all abortion-related deaths, the very deaths to which they are compared;

Abortion deaths are measured per case, while maternal mortality is measured per live births.

Maternal mortality figures also include deaths from tubal pregnancies, which may actually result from abortion-related scarring.

Maternal mortality figures also typically include deaths from car accidents, physical abuse, homicides, and other causes not related to childbirths.

Studies generally compare the isolated abortion procedure death with maternal deaths that include deaths during the entire 9 months of pregnancy and up to one year after delivery.

Abortion is a surgical procedure, and like any surgical procedure, it can have serious risks. A Swedish study indicated that legal abortion is more dangerous than childbirth because the maternal death rate from legal abortions was 39 per 100,000 abortions while the maternal death rate from childbirth was 14 per 100,000 live births.

A woman's cervical muscles may be damaged because the cervix is forcefully dilated during abortion. Perforation, or puncturing, or the uterus, infection, hemorrhage, and blood clots are only a few of the possible complications. Even with a successful abortion, scar tissue may form, causing infertility, miscarriages, or tubal pregnancies. Future pregnancies have a greater chance of leading to premature delivery, which may result in serious health problems for that baby.

Abortion is painful to the mother and to the preborn baby. Unless the mother receives an anesthetic, abortion can be very painful. Medical research has shown that perborn babies feel organic pain, just as we do, by 13 1/2 weeks, and lesser pain sensations before that time.

Abortion leaves emotional scars such as unexplained depression, repressed emotions, intense feelings of guilt and remorse, nightmares, sleeping problems, and thoughts of suicide. In an attempt to repress the memories of the abortion, many women begin to abuse alcohol or drugs, or become very promiscuous. Often they again become pregnant within 6 months, trying to "replace" their aborted baby. Many women become frigid. The majority of relationships end within months after the abortion.

Counselors at abortion centers will rarely advise a woman to carry her baby to term because they are operating for profit and don't want to lose the business. An abortionist can make more money by perfomring abortions than a life-afirming physician can make by caring for a woman during her 9-month pregnancy. Only about 3% of U.S. physicians perform abortions regularly, and they are usually not held in high esteem by their patients, or by their medical colleagues. 

It has also been reported throughout the nation that negative pregnancy tests are reported to patients as "positive" in an attempt by the abortion facility to make more money. Many non-pregnant women have paid for, undergone abortions, and lived the rest of their lives thiking they had aborted their children, when in fact, they had not even been pregnant. Other women have wisely gone for a second pregnancy test at a pregnancy resource center, the health department, or a physician's office and have found that they were not pregnant afterall.

Don't act before you have all the facts about abortion. Be sure you know what abortion really is, and how it can affect you for the rest of your life.

Find out the true facts about how your preborn baby is developing -- he or she is not a blob! The decision you make in the next few days or weeks will affect you for the rest of your life.

Don't let anyone pressure you into a decision you are not ready to make.

Check various sections of this website, and write confidentially to a counselor at www.optionline.org, or call 1.800.395.HELP toll-free to talk confidentially to a caring counselor.