*subhead*Abortion dangerous?*subhead*

This had to kill the New York Times to report. A new study states that abortions raise the risk of preterm births in subsequent pregnancies.

What? A downside to abortion? Who’d a thunk it?

Researchers reviewed the records of 300,858 first-time mothers who had single babies in Finland from 1996 to 2008, comparing the data with a registry of induced abortions from 1983 to 2008. The analysis appeared online Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction.

After controlling for smoking, a history of miscarriage, socioeconomic level and other factors, the investigators found that the risk for very preterm birth — that is, birth at 28 or fewer weeks of gestation — increased with the number of previous abortions a woman had had: a 19 percent increase after one abortion, 69 percent for two, and 278 percent for three.

They also found increased risks for preterm birth (less than 37 weeks of gestation) and for low birth weight, but only in women who had three or more abortions.

Of course, there’s all sorts of caveats thrown in and they downplay it a bit. But this is a big step for the Times.

Hey, why don’t we make Planned Parenthood post the findings of this study on their walls like the government is attempting to force crisis pregnancy centers to post signs?