Hey Dr Sue — How Does Abortion Affect Miscarriage In The Future?

Short answer: It doesn’t really.

I get this type of question from students a lot. They usually start with “I know someone who had (fill in number) abortions and now they can’t have a baby.”

When asked for more information, it turns out that the student didn’t actually know someone, and that it was either a story about a friend of a friend, or something they heard on social media.

And this urban legend doesn’t seem to want to die. I have my thoughts on why that is, but let’s get back to the question.

There are two types of abortion, medical and surgical. The really low risk of future miscarriage after an abortion is often linked to surgical abortion. A medical abortion (think abortion pill) doesn’t have the same risk.

The link to the slightly increased risk of miscarriage after a surgical abortion is tied to possible complications. If there’s an infection and if it’s not treated then it’s possible that there will be a problem with future miscarriages.

But that’s a quite a few ifs.

There are other things that are way more likely to increase a person’s chance of having a miscarriage that have nothing to do with having an abortion. Drinking alcohol and smoking are linked to an increased…