🔍 Fact Check: Does Abortion Cause Endometriosis?

Sep 25, 2025

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With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of Health and Human Services, medical misinformation is in its heyday. Old myths are resurfacing and being validated by a government agency recently purged of some of its most qualified experts, while kooks and quacks are installed in prominent positions. Because anti-abortion disinformation never dies, there is a good chance that old myths will be revivified under the current kakistocracy.

With this in mind, today's fact check covers an anti-abortion myth that may have fallen off your radar in recent years: that abortion causes or increases the chances of developing endometriosis.

Abortion does not cause or increase the risk of developing endometriosis.12345

What is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis “is a complex systemic disease associated with tissue similar to the endometrial lining of the uterus growing outside the uterus that can affect the whole body.”6 This tissue behaves just like the lining inside the uterus behaves— “it thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. But it grows in places where it doesn’t belong,”7 including the exterior of the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, rectum, and abdominal walls.8 It has also been found growing on the brain, lungs, liver, and other organs.9 10

In many ways, endometriosis “can have a debilitating effect on an individual’s life.”11

Endometriosis “is characterized by lesions called implants, nodules, or endometriomas.”12 “[E]strogen can cause this out-of-place tissue to grow, often causing severe pain.”13 The physical pain can be so severe, that it “can lead to psychological distress.”14 Additionally, “[a]s the endometriosis tissue grows, it causes inflammation, which can lead to adhesions, scarring, internal bleeding, bowel or urinary dysfunction, constipation, painful intercourse, or infertility.”15

In regards to infertility, some studies have found that people with endometriosis may be more likely to experience spontaneous abortions, incomplete spontaneous abortions, and other adverse reproductive events.16 One study found that this risk increases with maternal age because the extent and severity of endometriosis advances over time.17

*It is important to note that cisgender men can also have endometriosis, though this is a rare.18 19

What Causes Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is believed to be caused by:

Autoimmune Conditions:
“A problem with the immune system may make the body unable to recognize and destroy endometriosis tissue.”20
Retrograde menstruation:
“This is when menstrual blood flows back through the fallopian tubes and into the pelvic cavity instead of out of the body. The blood contains endometrial cells from the inner lining of the uterus. These cells may stick to the pelvic walls and surfaces of pelvic organs. There, they might grow and continue to thicken and bleed over the course of each menstrual cycle.”21
Transformed peritoneal cells:
“Experts suggest that hormones or immune factors might help transform cells that line the inner side of the abdomen, called peritoneal cells, into cells that are like those that line the inside of the uterus.”22
Early cell changes:
“Hormones such as estrogen may transform” cells that are in the earliest stages of development “into endometrial-like cell growths during puberty.”23
Endometrial cell transport:
“The blood vessels or tissue fluid system may move endometrial cells to other parts of the body.”24
Abdominal surgery:
Endometriosial cells may be transferred from the uterus to the abdomen during invasive abdominal surgeries such as cesarean sections.25

How Did the Myth that Abortion Causes Endometriosis Get Started?

As noted above, there is no evidence that abortion causes or increases the risk of developing endometriosis.26

The myth that abortion can cause endometriosis appears to have arisen from in the aftermath of the 2012 Democrat National Convention.272829 During the Convention, speaker Elizabeth Ann “Libby” Bruce spoke about her experiences with the disease and “revealed that she received care for endometriosis at Planned Parenthood after many doctors dismissed her symptoms.”30 She stated:

“[W]ithout Planned Parenthood, my pain would have continued, and I might not have my daughter today.”31

Afterwards, “opponents of Planned Parenthood swiftly took to social media outlets in response, tweeting claims that abortion increases the risk of endometriosis. The ensuing debates on the matter revealed that many people are confused about endometriosis and endometritis, erroneously believing the two conditions to be one and the same – and linked to elective abortion. They are not.”32

There is a risk of developing endometritis following childbirth and miscarriage, or procedures that involve dilating the cervix, such as IUD insertion, a hysteroscopy, or a dilation and curettage (D&C).33 However, “it is more likely to occur after miscarriage or childbirth. It is also more common after a long labor or C-section.”34

Regardless, endometritis and endometriosis are two entirely different conditions.

Unfortunately, the myth persisted for years;35 and in the current environment, it could re-emerge as a potent tool of disinformation and confusion.

Endometriosis is a serious, debilitating condition that should not be falsely linked to abortion so that it can be used as a political football by opponents of reproductive freedom, or to generate erroneous statistics about abortion complications. Abortion does not cause endometriosis. ■

rePro-Truth

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