CV NEWS FEED // Women who end their pregnancies with abortion pills are significantly more likely to report to an emergency room with severe medical issues than women who have surgical abortions or live births, according to new data primarily authored by a researcher with the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.
The research, primarily conducted by researchers from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, was published in August and compared hundreds of women’s emergency room (ER) visits between 2004 and 2015.
The researchers categorized the women into four groups. Three were comprised of women who had had a chemical abortion, surgical abortion, or live birth 30 days or fewer prior to their ER visit, while the fourth group was made up of women who had never been pregnant. All the women were eligible to receive abortion coverage through Medicaid.
“For the entire observation period,” the researchers wrote in the study report,
an ED [emergency department] visit following a chemical abortion was significantly more likely to have a severe or critical acuity rating than a visit following surgical abortion, live birth, or an ED visit at any time by a woman who was never pregnant.
According to a chart labeled Table 1, the study also found that in 2004, 50.3% of all visits to the ER for the chemical abortion group were “coded severe or critical.” In 2015, 75.7% of all visits for the same group were “coded severe or critical.” The percentages in the other groups also increased between those years, with the “no pregnancy” group increasing from 38.6% to 54.0%, the surgical abortion group increasing from 45.7% to 66.1%, and the live birth group increasing from 51.1% to 56.5%.
The researchers found that the four groups’ total number of emergency room visits went up from 51,307 to 68,798 between 2004 and 2015, and discovered that the group with the largest percentage of increased ER visits was the group who had taken abortion pills.
In the group who had taken abortion pills, ER visits went up 2649.7%, compared to 280.4% of women who had surgical abortions, 42.8% of those who had never been pregnant, and 9.2% of women who gave birth.
“Some investigators have suggested that ED visits following abortion, especially chemical abortion, are frequently for observation care only rather than treatment purposes,” the Institute stated. “This view, if demonstrated, would support the notion that the risks of chemical abortion are exaggerated by the high incidence of ED utilization.”
Table 1 showed that in 2004, 99 ER visits of the chemical abortion group were “coded severe or critical.” In 2015, 4,100 ER visits of the chemical abortion group were “coded severe or critical.” As such, the researchers documented a 4041.1% increase in ER visits “coded severe or critical” for those in the chemical abortion group.
The surgical abortion group went up 450.6%, the no-pregnancy group went up 101.0%, and the live birth group went up 20.9%.
“While multiple factors may influence these results, persistently and significantly higher ED visit acuity following chemical abortion is clearly evident,” the Institute wrote, later adding:
The increasing preference for this method of induced abortion, along with this evidence of the growing acuity of related ED visits, suggests that a greater level of surveillance will enhance patient safety for these patients.
The Institute concluded, “Consistent with national trends for ED visits, both the number and acuity of ED visits following pregnancy outcomes are increasing. ED visit acuity following chemical abortion is persistently and significantly higher than for surgical abortion or live birth.”
