A friend of mine is currently pregnant and considering having an abortion. She has had 2 abortions in the past. I've heard that it is possible for an abortion(even more so multiple abortions) to damage a woman's ability to become pregnant again later on. Is this true?

Done properly it does not have any affect on the ability to conceive again some other time. She needs to make sure the clinic or hospital she's going to is good and such, and she should be fine.

<moved to Women's Health>

Multiple abortions will not decrease the woman's ability to get pregnant, but it will decrease the possibility of a woman carrying to term. The reason is because of the multiple insult caused on the cervix by the abortion, thus making carrying to term hard, if not impossible, for some women, depending on the number of abortions.

Previous induced abortions and the risk of very pr...[BJOG. 2005] - PubMed Result (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15777440?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA)


Women with a history of induced abortion were at higher risk of very preterm delivery than those with no such history (OR + 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.0); the risk was even higher for extremely preterm deliveries (< 28 weeks).