Canadian researchers who reviewed 37 case studies have confirmed a long-noted link between abortions and premature births as well as low birthweight babies.

Women who had undergone more than one abortion had a 72 per cent increased risk of having low birthweight children and a 93 per cent increased risk of having a premature baby. The study also found that women who had an abortion in the first or second trimester had a 35 per cent increased risk of giving birth to a low-weight baby and a 36 per cent increased risk of having a premature baby.

Now, what do you think would be the logical response to that? Yes, you guessed: make abortion safer.

The authors of the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, stress that further studies are needed to assess the impact of new ways of carrying out an abortion, such as non-invasive treatments where women take a combination of pills to trigger a miscarriage.

The editor of the journal said much the same thing, because there was “no question that ToP remains an essential part of women’s healthcare.” A GP was all for the chemical option. Anne Furedi of the abortion agency BPAS said women’s “take-up” of the abortion pill method was “encouraging”, although she did warn that it required “a whole framework of round-the-clock expert support and care.” And she was not sure how many GPs could be bothered with that (more work for BPAS).

Drug-induced abortions are still a minority of all abortions in Britain and the United States, but, according to the Guttmacher Institute, they account for more than 60 per cent in some European countries. The abortion pill RU486 was invented in France.

Some adverse events have been reported but are generally played down. Obviously, some doctors still need to be convinced that surgical abortions have unacceptable risks, so it will be a while before the risks of chemical abortions get much of an airing. But, no doubt, they exist.