Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Reality Vs. Rhetoric in the Abortion Debate

This FoxNews article states some statistics on abortion that shocked me. According to the study, “one of every three American women will have an abortion by the time they reach 45.” Additionally, in a typical year there are 4.1 million live births, 1.3 million abortions and 900,000 miscarriages.
1.3 million? I had no idea that it was still that high. Horrible.

However, I was not surprised to learn that few abortions are done because of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Even fewer are partial-birth, eight of every 10,000 abortions performed. I've often wondered why some make partial-birth abortions their main focus, when they are so few performed. Is it because it is the most gruesome and murderous, and therefore the angle that the activists have the most chance of winning? At any rate, with today's neonatal technology, I don't see how a partial-birth abortion is ever needed. If the mother's life is in danger (because of high blood pressure, for example), just do an emergency c-section. Many third trimester babies are saved that way. I'm not a doctor, so maybe I'm unaware of a medical situation where a partial-birth abortion is the only option - anyone want to enlighten me? At any rate, 8 out of 10,000 is very low.

2 comments:

Christina Dunigan said...

Heather, the reason prolifers go after "partial birth abortion" so vigorously when it represents such a small percentage of abortions is three-fold.

1. It demonstrates that the prochoice agenda is not about ending the pregnancy -- since by the time PBA is done, the pregnancy could be ended in a live birth. By exposing the reality of PBA, we show that the goal isn't an ended pregnancy; it's a dead fetus.

2. It demonstrates that abortion is indeed legal throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy. Abortion advocates like to perpetuate the myth that Roe vs Wade only allowed abortions during the first trimester. By forcing them to defend post-viability abortions, we force them to admit that abortion is legal on demand well past the first trimester.

3. It's just nasty and can't be permitted to go unchallenged.

Heather said...

Thanks for the commments; those are good points. Definitely makes sense. You're right about that 1st trimester myth - a lot of people believe that.