Don't let the numbers fool you

It has been revealed that abortion complication rates are much higher than the pro-abortions keep telling us.

And this comes from Echo, who, as I have stated before, is not pro-life.

Echo also wants more access to late-term abortions.

And as I have stated before, Echo is completely funded by Ontario tax dollars.

This report says that hospital abortions are safe, yet Echo's own numbers show that short-term complication rates are higher then the common figure always stated, which is about 1%.

For instance, in Joyce Arthur's report attacking crisis Pregnancy Centres, Exposing crisis pregnancy centres in BC, we were told that:
"complication risk still less than 1%" and "Less than one in 100 abortions result in serious complications"

And in this other Echo report:
"Abortion service provision is safe with less than 1% complication rate".

But Echo's own numbers contradict this.

So let's look at what this current report, Induced Abortion in Ontario: Case Scenarios, actually tells us about complication rates.

On page 14, I refer the reader to:
Table 7. Hospital Abortion Outcomes (2002/03 to 2008/09) for 98,483 abortions

The chart reveals short-term complication percentages (1), and they are not less than 1%.

In fact, 6.95% of the 96,859 women who had "same day" hospital abortions had complications (and were readmitted as inpatients: .91%; to same day surgery: .59% ; to the emergency department: 5.45%)

and

7.70% of 1,624 women who had "in patient" hospital abortions had complications (and were readmitted as inpatients: 1.91%; to same day surgery 1.05%; to the emergency department 4.74%).

Then on Page 20, I refer the reader to this:
“According to the hospital survey data, 35 of the 94 general hospitals responding (79% response rate; 94/119 Ontario general hospitals) performed abortions. However of these 35, only 16 reported providing second trimester abortions and all were in larger urban areas. Of these 16, only 13 performed abortions beyond 19 weeks. According to hospital survey data, later stage abortions are only provided for medical reasons, including for a non-viable foetus. Hospital survey data (12/13 hospitals) shows that the gestational limit for these hospitals is 20 weeks (3 hospitals); 21 weeks (1 hospital); 21.5 (1 hospital); 22 (2 hospitals); 23 (1 hospital) 23.50 (2 hospitals) and 24 (2 hospitals).”

Notice the use of the word “only”. “Only” implies that not many hospitals perform second trimester abortions.

Yet fully 16 hospitals do provide second trimester abortions.

And of these 16 hospitals:

3 hospitals do abortions up to 20 weeks
1 hospital does abortions up to 21 weeks
1 hospital does abortions up to 21.5 weeks
2 hospitals do abortions up to 22 weeks
1 hospital does abortions up to 23 weeks
2 hospital does abortions up to 23.5 weeks
2 hospitals do abortions up to 24 weeks

And this statement:
“According to the hospital survey data, later stage abortions are only performed for medical reasons, including for a nonviable fetus."

What medical reasons are we talking about? And how many were done for a nonviable fetus? How many were done for other reasons? Why isn't that information provided? Does Echo have something to hide?

On Page 20, I refer the reader to:
Table 5. Second Trimester (Gestational Age > 12 Weeks) Hospital Abortion Outcomes (2002/03 to 2008/09) for 16,446 procedures

Again, let's look at the percentages:

8.05% of women who had "same day" hospital abortions after 12 weeks had complications (and were readmitted as inpatients: 1.52%; to same day surgery: .42%; to the emergency department: 6.11%)

and

7.48% of women who had "in patient" hospital abortions after 12 weeks had complications (and were readmitted as inpatients: 1.60%; to same day surgery: 1.07%; to the emergency department: 4.81%)

Complication rates much higher that we thought; more access to late-term abortions. Is this what Ontarians really want?

(1) Short-Term Complications: "Using administrative health data, we examined short-term abortion complications. For the purposes of this analysis, any visit to an Emergency Department (ED) or hospital within 14 days of the procedure was counted as a complication, regardless of the reason for the visit.")