You know the old adage that just when you think you know all about a subject, you find out something new. I recently attended the WV for Life state convention and found out a lot of new things. There are over 100 documented medical studies that show a definite link between abortion and subsequent pre-term birth. Pre-term birth or preemies cost between four and 28 times the cost of full term births. Preemies have an increased risk for cerebral palsy by 147 times when compared to full term babies, and many of you know that preemies have other health problems too.

Induced abortion increases the risk of later babies being pre-term by 3040 percent in study after study The more abortions a woman has, the higher the risk. Cervical trauma and infection are the most probable cause of the risk. Shouldn’t these women be told of the risks? Patients should be informed of these long term risks. By the way, the risk with using RU486, the abortion pill, is just as high. An article in USA Today on Oct. 5 reported on the one million babies that die each year because they are born too soon. The article also gave the 36 percent rate of increase over the last 25 years, but did not mention any link to previous abortions the women had. I wonder why!

It’s been estimated that a child that is born benefits society by $1.4 million in earnings over a lifetime. A child that is aborted leaves a deficit in society of $200,000-money not paid into social security for instance. These figures may be debatable, but have you considered our current financial troubles and thought how they would be different if we had had 50 million more people working, paying taxes, and social security? That’s how many we have lost due to the choice to kill your unborn children since 1973.

The real cost of this is, of course, more than money. The real cost is a human life made in the image of God, a boy or girl with potential, a friend in a time of need, a brother or sister to love and cherish. The real cost is heartbreak for women and families. Please consider all this the next time you hear someone condoning or promoting “choice” or declaring that they are personally against it, but continue to vote for “choice”.

Remember what the choice is!

Diane Strippel

New Martinsville