New state-required pamphlet overstates abortion risks, physicians say
A new state booklet required to be given to a woman before an abortion overstates and implies risks that aren’t backed by data, according to physicians.
The pamphlet, “A Woman’s Right to Know Informational Material,” is intended to help women make an informed decision about ending a pregnancy. It updates an earlier version, published in 2003, that included factual errors and skewed information about abortions to deter women from receiving the procedure, abortion rights advocates and doctors had said.
The latest version released Monday is only slightly better, according to physicians. It still implies abortions increase the risk of breast cancer and are more dangerous than pregnancy, and that fetuses, which the booklet refers to as babies, feel pain prior to 20 weeks gestation — all of which isn’t backed by medical data, said Moss Hampton, the past chairman of the Texas chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“The intent of the pamphlet was good in that they stressed over and over that an abortion needed to be a decision that was made in a thoughtful and informed way,” Hampton said. “Having said that, just like in the past, they have emphasized the risk of abortions, particularly first trimester abortions, and made it sound like they are risky procedures when in fact, the data says that first trimester abortions are one of the safer procedures that are out there.”
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/new-state-required-pamphlet-overstates-abortion-risks-physicians-say/oxuqkz5m7kM8trPvxtnsiO/
