Choosing an abortion clinic in the Chicago area is challenging, given problems that have plagued such clinics over the years. In the 1970’s, Medicaid fraud and substandard care offered to women were exposed by the Chicago Sun-Times’ “Abortion Profiteers” series.

Since then, medical malpractice lawsuits are still being filed against clinics in Chicagoland.

Grounds for lawsuits against abortion clinics for physical injury after induced abortion include cervical injury or uterine perforation,[1] hemorrhage,[2] laceration of the cervix, [3] bladder or bowel perforation, [4] serious infection, [5] and wrongful death.

In addition to these more serious injuries, other complications can occur after induced abortion, such as menstrual disturbance and [6] inflammation of the reproductive organs. [7]

Long-term physical complications from abortion may surface later. For example, overzealous curettage can damage the lining of the uterus and lead to permanent infertility. [8] Overall, women who have abortions face an increased risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancy [9] and a more than doubled risk of future sterility. [10] Perhaps most important of all, the risk of these sorts of complications, along with risks of future miscarriage, increase with each subsequent abortion. [11]

Abortions are also linked to breast cancer, according to researchers Joel Brind, professor of Human Biology and Endocrinology at City University of New York, and Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., clinical assistant professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ.

Women in Berwyn, Cicero, LaGrange, Chicago, and nearby suburbs who are looking for an abortion clinic should first educate themselves on possible abortion complications by calling WomanCare Services in Berwyn, at 708-795-6000. Or go to www.womancare.org.

Sources

1. Kenneth F. Schulz, David A. Grimes, Willard Cates, Jr., “Measures to Prevent Cervical Injury During Suction Curettage Abortion,” The Lancet, May 28, 1983, p. 1184. See also Steven G. Kaali, M.D., et al, “The frequency and management of uterine perforations during first-trimester abortions,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, August 1989, p. 408.

2. Schulz, et al, cited in note 1, p. 1182.

3.  Phillip G. Stubblefield, “First and Second Trimester Abortion,” in Gynecologic and Obstetric Surgery, ed. David H. Nichols (Baltimore: Mosby, 1993) pp. 1023-1024. Also, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Data — United States, 1991, ” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 43, No. 3, 1994, p. 43, puts the percentage of suction curettage abortions relative to other techniques at 98%, though the CDC admits that their numbers include a number of D & E abortions which should be classified otherwise (personal communication with Lisa Koonin, Division of Reproductive Health, CDC, March 6, 1996). Also, S. Kaali, cited in note 1, pp. 406-408.

4. L.H. Roht, et al, “Increased Reporting of Menstrual Symptoms Among Women Who Used Induced Abortion,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 127 (1977), p. 356.

5. David N. Danforth, Ph.D., M.D., ed., et al, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5th ed. (Philadelphia: J.B. Lipincott, 1986), pp. 217, 257, 382-383. See also Jack Pritchard, et al, Williams Obstetrics, 17th ed. (Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1985), p. 484.

6.  Stubblefied, cited in note 3, p. 1023.

7.  Op cit., cited in note 4.

8. Danforth, cited above, p. 887, and David H. Nichols, M.D., Gynecologic and Obstetric Surgery (St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book Inc., 1993), p. 260, and Leon Speroff, Robert H. Glass, Nathan G. Kase, Clinical Gynecological Endocrinology & Infertility (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1983), pp. 156-157.

9. A. Levin, et al, “Ectopic Pregnancy and Prior Induced Abortion,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 72, No. 3 (March 1982), pp. 253-256.

10. Anastasia Tzonou, et al, “Induced abortions, miscarriages, and tobacco smoking as risk factors for secondary infertility,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Vol. 47 (1993), p. 36.

11. A. Levin, et al, “Association of induced abortion with subsequent pregnancy loss,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 243, No. 24 (June 27, 1980), pp. 2495-2496, 2498-2499.