Abortion complications are seriously under-reported, leaving women who undergo abortion largely unaware of the range of physical and psychological risks they face.

The deVeber Institute, a nonprofit Canadian bioethics institute and social research group based in Toronto, has released its comprehensive review of the world medical literature on abortion in a new book entitled "Women's Health after Abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence."

The investigation is based on 500+ studies that have appeared in medical and other journals, chiefly during the past 20 years. Breast cancer, pelvic infection, infertility, life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, and subsequent premature births - with higher rates of children born with cerebral palsy - were found to be associated with abortion.

Abortion complications were not limited to physical health. While abortion is often regarded as a cure for the depression and stress of a crisis pregnancy, the study found that women are more likely to commit suicide after abortion than after giving birth to a child.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Emory University professor of humanities and women's studies, calls the findings "compelling", and says the study "makes overwhelmingly clear [that] women who seek abortions in the United States and Canada are not even told of the risks they are running."

The current high level of 114,000 reported abortions in Canada and 1.4 million/year in the U.S. underscore the magnitude of this suppressed public health issue.

[To order the study from deVeber Institute ($24.95 (Cdn), $19.95 (US) visit the website: http://deveber.org/publications2.html#launch NV; 24April02, LSN.ca]