Below are some commonly held ideas about
abortion contrasted with the facts.
Myth:
Abortion is legal, therefore,
it must be right.
Fact:
It is true that many people judge by
what is legal to decide if it is right or not. However, the fact remains that
some Supreme Court decisions (like the Dred Scott decision which removed the
African-American's right to life) may NOT be moral or ethical. The Supreme Court
only has to decide if it is constitutional. That being said, since many
people use the law as a litmus test, this would be one of the strongest
arguments to make abortion illegal.
Myth:
If Abortion is made illegal, then women will
be put in jail for having an abortion.
Fact:
That has never been the way things have
worked. Basically the doctor who performs the abortion could be liable to a fine
or more. In practical terms, however, what would likely happen is that we
would go back to doctors performing "therapeutical abortions" in hospitals as
they did before Roe v Wade. What would change is woman would no longer use
abortion as birth control and that type of thing. In one survey 75 percent
of women stated if abortion were not legal, they would not abort.
Myth:
Abortion is safer than childbirth.
Fact:
Most deaths from abortions are recorded as
pregnancy deaths, thus making pregnancy seem dangerous and abortion seem safe.
Abortion is an act very much against nature, shocking the woman's body in one of
the worst ways, greatly raising the risk for breast cancer. Physical
repercussions of an abortion can include adhesions, perforated uterus, sterility
and difficulty in following pregnancies. Psychologically, many women
suffer extreme distress for years following the abortion. Statistics from
the Reardon Institute (among others) show that aborted women have a higher rate
of suicide, substance abuse and depression.
Myth:A
woman should have a right to "choose."
Fact:
But why is it that "the right to
choose" only involves terminating a baby? A woman does NOT have the right
to choose to smoke pot nor does she have the right to choose to sell her body in
prostitution. If she does "choose" these things, she gets put in jail even
though ONLY her body is involved in those choices. On the other hand, if
she chooses to have an abortion, this is condoned despite the fact that the life
of another individual is involved.
Also, where are the protections for the baby's rights? Most people, even severely handicapped individuals would NOT choose death if given the choice At present, there is no protection for the unborn baby because the Supreme Court decided NOT that the baby isn't human right FROM conception (that was pretty well proven) but rather that the writers of the constitution did not intend to include the unborn in the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, the truth is that when the constitution was drafted only 5 percent of Caucasian males had full rights. If we are going to be consistent, than no one's rights (except perhaps Caucasian males) are protected and we need to have a Constitutional Convention to right that wrong!
Myth:Though
I would never have an abortion myself, I don't believe I should impose
my morality on others.
Fact:
The fact is that most of our laws do
legislate moral issues. When there is another life involved, protection of
that life is considered appropriate. Also by not protecting the unborn baby,
aren't we imposing our morality on him/her?
Myth:Abortion
is appropriate after a rape.
Fact:
Most rapes do not end up in pregnancy however, if a pregnancy results,
terminating the innocent baby only compounds the mother's distress and injury as
there is a lot of evidence that the mother bonds with her baby soon after
conception. On the other hand, carrying the pregnancy fulltime and having
a sweet baby which resulted, can do a lot to heal the mother's injury from the
rape.
Myth:Abortion
is appropriate in the case of incest
Fact:In
the vast majority of cases, abortion after incest protects the sexual predator
and not the victim. If a pregnant incest victim terminates her baby, the
predator has no reason to stop the incest. On the contrary, if the mother
carries the pregnancy and keeps the baby, this has a great potential of stopping
the incestuous attacks.
Myth:If
abortion is made illegal again, women will resort to back-alley abortions.
Fact:According
to Bernard Nathenson, MD, co-founder of NARAL, the year before Roe V Wade, there
were 100,000 abortions done, and 95 percent of them were done by doctors in
hospitals. He admitted that they had fabricated the stories about all the
"backstreet abortions" to sway the American public to accept the practice of
legalized abortion. Statistically, there are actually more backstreet
abortions happening now than before legalized abortion. Abortion clinics
require cash up front ($250-$500). If a woman does not have that type of
cash, she will seek a backstreet practitioner.
Myth:Abortion
is a "private" decision between a woman and her doctor.
Fact:
Many terminations of human life are private decisions - for instance a
termination by a hit man is a private decision between the hit man and his
victim. Being a private decision doesn't make it appropriate or right.
In the case of Thalidimide which injured many young
children as well as women who consumed the medication, the Pharmaceutical
company, Distillers did not allow the press to inform people about the dangers
of this drug. Their excuse for gagging the press, was "this is a
private issue between the pharmaceutical company and its clients".
(ref: Brynner and Stevens: DARK REMEDY)
Myth:Abortion
does not raise the risk for breast cancer
Fact:
In 28 out of 31 worldwide studies, it was shown that
abortion SIGNIFICANTLY raises the risk for breast cancer. This is because of the
undifferentiated cells in the breasts formed during the first trimester which
the body "forgets" to destroy after an abortion (in which a woman becomes
UNpregnant in 5 minutes. One of the first published studies which showed
aborted women as having as high as a 250 percent greater risk of breast cancer
was the Janet Daling study of 2000 women. Daling, a pro-choice scientist tried
to withhold her findings from the news services. The Melbye study which
proved no risk, counted 60,000 aborted women as woman who had NOT had abortions.
When this is adjusted, the Melbye study showed a higher risk of breast cancer
after abortion than other studies.
Did you know:
Why did all these key people in the fight for abortion rights, change their minds?
back to the abortion files