She said that even with the risks, medical abortion remains far safer than carrying a pregnancy to term.

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She is faced with the terrible choice of knowing that if she carries her pregnancy to term, it will cost her a fortune in money, time, and effort to care for her new child.

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The protective effect of an early pregnancy is thought to be due to the fact that a first, full-term pregnancy stimulates the full differentiation of the cells lining the milk ducts, where most breast cancers arise.

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Such periods include: in utero exposure, puberty, and the period between menarche and a first full-term pregnancy.

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If the pregnancy is carried to term, the newborn needs an operationa few days later, so the spinal cord can be pushed back into the spinal column.

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But medical technology has also pushed earlier and earlier the age at which a foetus becomes viable outside the womb, putting abortions even in the second three-month term of pregnancy on shakier moral ground.

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