Abortion Myths Exposed

Forty years after the legalization of abortion in the United States, the abortion debate rages on.  Few issues have polarized the American public like abortion.

Not surprisingly there are people on both sides of the issue who are misinformed.  There are others who simply want to turn a blind eye.

Life advocates are often challenged with myths and hard questions posed by abortion supporters. But as those who value all innocent human life, we must continue the conversation.

In this, the first of two blog posts, we will highlight some of the more common misconceptions surrounding abortion.  It is information which may help you dialogue with those around you; to clarify misinformation and point people to the truth about abortion.

1.  Abortion is a woman’s choice –it’s her body and a private matter between a woman and her doctor.

A woman's assertion to control her own body does not include the "right" to have her unborn child killed.  Her preborn child has the same ‘right to life’ as any other human being.  There are no circumstances, other than abortion, in which a person is allowed to kill an innocent, defenseless human being.

Abortion involves so much more than a woman and her doctor. There is a father, grandparents, aunts and uncles, even siblings – and of course, the preborn child.  Indeed, abortion has dramatic consequences for society as a whole.

2.  If abortion were illegal, women would die in "back-alley” abortions.

It is important to remember no abortion is without very real and serious risks to both the physical and emotional health of the woman.

Abortion advocates report thousands of women losing their lives due to illegal abortions before 1973. After Penicillin became available, the number of deaths was reduced in the 1950's to approximately 250 per year. By 1966, with abortion still illegal in all states, the number of deaths had dropped steadily to 120.

Legalized abortion never played a significant role in affecting the numbers of women who died from abortion-related deaths.  Antibiotics and effective medical treatments helped reduce abortion related deaths.

Sadly, women continue to die today from so-called "safe, legal and rare" abortions confirming what life advocates have always known - abortion is unsafe and hurts women, legal or not.

3.  The fetus is not a person - so abortion is okay.

A distinctly unique human being is created at conception.  The scientific terms of ‘embryo’ or ‘fetus’ are often used to indicate where a person is developmentally - similar to calling the same person an infant, child, or adolescent.  The terms were never meant to imply that the unborn child is not human.  While the “infant” is different from the “adolescent”, all are genetically human, and therefore, persons.

The fourteenth amendment used to prove the case of abortion can also be used against it.  “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.  If a fetus is just as much of a person as the mother, then it becomes an issue of priorities.

To say the mother’s life is more important than that of the baby/fetus is a violation of the premise behind the Declaration of Independence.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”.   These same truths should apply equally to the preborn baby.

4.  Abortion is used mainly as a last resort, such as pregnancies that result from rape or incest.

There are approximately 1.2 million abortions each year in the United States. As many as one in four pregnancies end in abortion.

The top three reasons for abortion in an Alan Guttmacher Institute study were: unready for responsibility, cannot afford a baby now, and concern over how a baby would change her life.  Rape and incest are cited as reasons for less than 1% of all abortions.

5.  Abortion is only legal through the first trimester.

It was two landmark cases decided simultaneously that rule abortion law in the United States today.  On January 22, 1973 two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, struck down any and all existing state laws prohibiting abortion.

Roe essentially cleared a path for legalized abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, before viability. The Court's opinion in Doe, however, allowed a woman to obtain an abortion after viability for “health reasons”. This “health” exception included physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age, which broadened the path to include abortion for any reason during the full nine months of pregnancy.

After forty years of abortion on demand, this question remains:

How can we more effectively dialogue on the abortion issue?   

(Watch for Part 2 of Abortion Myths Exposed)

Suzanne L. Ward

Georgia Right to Life

Public Relations/Education

suzanneward@grtl.org