Abortion is 'safe and effective' according to major new study

In 2018, “abortion” is often thought of less as a medical procedure and more as a political battleground — one that drives news stories, fuels debates, and sways voters. Whether it’s Donald Trump endorsing the “pro-life” agenda on the National Mall, or Mississippi lawmakers banning abortion after 15 weeks, national conversations often center around the ethics of abortion, and rarely touch on the safety of the procedure. This month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) set out to shift the narrative surrounding abortion, focusing the conversation on the safety of the medical procedure rather than the ethics behind it. In a 186-page joint report, 22 experts explored the existing data on not only the safety of medical abortions, but also the efficacy. Pro-abortion experts see their report as a momentous shifting of the abortion debate, one that makes sound scientific evidence a priority in the conversation. Meanwhile, antiabortion experts tell Yahoo Lifestyle that the study isn’t comprehensive enough to be taken seriously.