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While abortion and women's rights is still a hotly contested topic in modern politics researchers are doing their part to inform the public on the clinical dangers of the procedure for both the mother and any future offspring she may have.

 While It has already been proven that one or more abortions affects a women's fertility rate, now researchers have shown that women who had had three or more abortions have a higher risk of some adverse birth outcomes, such as delivering a baby prematurely or with a low birth weight.

Published in the medicine journal Human Reproduction, the study looked at 300,858 Finnish mothers, 31,083 (10.3%) had had one induced abortion between 1996-2008, 4,417 (1.5%) had two, and 942 (0.3%) had three or more induced abortions before a first birth (excluding twins and triplets).

According to the study, the women who had three or more induced abortions had an increased risk of having a baby with (very) low birth weight or of a (very) preterm birth date. , compared to women who had had no abortions. Women who had two induced abortions had a slightly increased risk of having a preterm baby.

The study also showed a small increased risk of a baby's death around the time of birth. However, the numbers for this finding were very low (1498 births or five per 1000 babies).

In addition, the authors say they might not have been able to fully adjust for all the factors that could affect this result and perinatal deaths are sensitive to social factors such as poverty, smoking habits.

Dr Reija Klemetti, an associate professor and senior researcher in public health at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland, who led the research, said: "Our results suggest that induced abortions before the first birth, particularly three or more abortions, are associated with a marginally increased risk during the first birth. However, the increased risk is very small, particularly after only one or even two abortions, and women should not be alarmed by our findings."