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VANCOUVER, March 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to University of British Columbia researchers, teens with a history of abortion were almost three times more likely to give birth to a very low birth weight baby (VLBW), i.e. a baby born that weighs less than 1500 grams, or 3 pounds 5 ounces. In addition, these same teens were almost three and a half times more likely to have stillborn babies in future. The findings were published in the Annals of Epidemiology.

“In less than a half hour, a teenager can triple her risk of a future extremely premature (under 28 weeks’ gestation) newborn; such extremely premature babies have 38 times the risk of the CP (Cerebral Palsy, a brain injury malady),” warns Brent Rooney, medical researcher with the Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition.

“Pregnant Canadian women, no matter what their age, are not told that an elective abortion boosts their risk of a future preterm delivery,” Rooney adds. “As of January 2004, all Texas women visiting an abortion clinic are warned about the APB (Abortion Preterm Birth) risk and the associated risk of Cerebral Palsy.”

Laws in Canada and most other US states do not mandate similar warnings. “Texas women are warned about the infant brain injury risk of prior elective abortions but women in Toronto are left in the dark about this serious health risk,” Rooney said.

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