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Planned Parenthood: Abortion Has ‘A 99 Percent Safety Record’

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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The abortion provider Planned Parenthood claimed in a “Fact Sheet” Thursday that abortion has a 99 percent safety record.

“Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States. Data, including from the [Centers For Disease Control and Prevention], show that abortion has over a 99 percent safety record,” Planned Parenthood declared in its fact sheet, prepared with the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a nonprofit trade group.

Planned Parenthood also retweeted an ACOG infographic Thursday touting the claim after Republicans dropped their push for a 20-week abortion ban bill in Congress and in the midst of a national pro-life march in Washington, D.C.

“Studies show women in the U.S. experience major complications less than one percent of the time. In those rare cases when complications do occur, they are similar to those that may occur from miscarriage, which ob-gyns and other health care professionals treat every day,” according to the sheet, which does not cite Centers For Disease Control and Prevention stats for this claim but rather three academic reports including one by the pro-“reproductive health” group the Guttmacher Institute.

Planned Parenthood did not define “major complications” in its fact sheet.

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