The idea that there might be a higher rate of infertility in the population of women who have had abortions compared to the population of women who have not had abortions seems like a good bet. Artificially dilating the cervix, inserting foreign objects into the uterus, scrapping the interior of the uterus--when this is done to millions of women, it seems like good common sense to suppose that for some of these women, this manhandling will mean that their reproductive system will never again function the way it was designed to function.

Yet, the choice community denies that there is even the slightest risk of infertility after abortion. The mainstream press has complacently followed this lead.

That's why I 'bout fell off my chair while reading the article, "Is This Any Way to Have a Baby?" in the February 2004 issue of Oprah.

The subtitle of the article is "Thousands of women take fertility drugs, unaware they're putting their lives on the line." The article suggests that frightened, clock-ticking women have had dangerous fertility-inducing drugs pushed on them by profiteering and under-regulated fertility clinics.

Three drugs the article raises serious concerns about are Pergonal, Clomid, and Lupron. After reciting various horror stories, the author writes (p. 203):

Whether a woman needs help conceiving in the first place isn't always obvious. When she goes in for a workup, the specialist may have little incentive to send her back to the drawing board, or bed, as the case may be....Last May, the Medical College of Georgia's distinguished authority Paul McDonough, MD, speaking to a group of New York and New Jersey fertility specialists, urged his colleagues to "go after the low-hanging fruit," meaning the obvious causes of infertility--sperm problems, fallopian tube injuries (from STDs and abortions), and genetic or prenatal conditions--before they pull out their prescription pads.

Well, it does seem obvious, doesn't it?