Women who have abortions more likely to have premature births in later pregnancies

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Women who terminate their first pregnancy with an abortion are at greater risk of giving birth prematurely later in their lives compared to women who do not have an abortion, a study has found.

Scientists said that aborting a first pregnancy increases the chances of a spontaneous pre-term birth in a later pregnancy by nearly 40 per cent. However, women who suffer a natural miscarriage are at even greater risk of having premature babies later on, they found.

The study analysed medical records on 120,000 abortions, nearly 460,000 births and just over 120,000 miscarriages in Scotland between 1981 and 2001. It also compared surgical abortion, when the foetus is removed surgically, with medically-induced abortions using drugs.