Why Prior Abortions Raise Autism Risk

In 1999, Professor Larry Burd & colleagues reported that women with prior induced abortions had a three times higher risk of delivering a newborn later diagnosed with autism.1 In the 1960s, the U.S. autism rate for newborns was approximately 1 in 10,000, but the rate skyrocketed to 1 in 110 in 2009 according to the Centers for Disease Control. 

Is it biologically plausible that prior maternal induced abortions elevate a newborn baby’s autism risk? In a word, yes. This is because of two mechanisms — preterm birth (very preterm and extremely preterm) and raised paternal age at delivery. Six significant studies report that prior induced abortions boost extremely preterm birth risk (under 28 weeks’ gestation). Elliot Institute