--- Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Julia Thompson wrote:
> > According to _Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth, > Third Edition_ by The > > American College of Obstetricians and > Gynecologists (copyright 2000), having > > 1 abortion will have no effect on future > pregnancies, but having more than 1 > > abortion may increase the risk of having a preterm > baby. (Page 8.) > > Does your book give any statistics on the matter? > > I glanced at the list of 48 sources JDG's article > mentioned. Even with > my meager knowledge of medical literature, I > recognized a number of > the journal names, so I guess they aren't crackpots > (maybe one of the > medical professionals on the list can confirm my > guess?) > > One remaining question I have when I'm not familiar > with the literature > like this, and someone "proves" a subject by listing > a lot of papers > that support the viewpoint, is whether there exist > hundreds of other > papers that support the opposite viewpoint. In other > words, does most of > the literature agree or is this a highly contentious > issue still? I haven't read any of the 3 recent original posts with this topic, because quite bluntly I'm sick of it. If several people really want a second opinion on it, I'll get to it at some point, but I can't say when. Comments on the above: ACOG is *the* gold standard for matters obstetrical and gynecological, from a medical standpoint, and from a legal standpoint as well (although we always look for new data in studies, and clinicians may decide on their own to implement new policies/guidelines which ACOG has not yet commented about). Anytime there is a controversial topic, there are studies going both (or multiple) ways; one has to look at the study protocol, design, controls, number of subjects, funding sources (sorry to say, but very true - frex one of the VA studies I cited (in a post several months ago, I think about drug safety) found that Baycol was cheaper and just as effective for hypercholesterolemia; as all who watch TV in the States should know, that drug was later pulled from the market for excessive fatalities) etc. etc. I will point out that when I cite literature for or against a particular medical/health topic, I do note the existance of alternate viewpoints/studies, and usually provide a link. I also note when I think a source has a particular bias, as in fact I did in several posts on the topic of abortion this past year. There is a great deal of controversy in the medical literature on any number of topics, ranging from the effectiveness of mammograms at preventing deaths secondary to breast cancer, to whether or not a high-protein diet is safe for long-term use. Medicine is *not* black&white, however much one desires it to be. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
