Some FACTS:

FACT: There appears to be current evidence of at least as

many fatalities after legal as illegal abortions.

According to the C.D.C., in every year since abortion

was legalized, MORE women have been killed by legal

abortion than illegal abortion -- as many as seven

times more deaths have been caused by legal abortion

and the number may be higher. [1]

FACT: Abortion deaths are classified as maternal mortality

deaths. Example: If 10 women died of abortion and

no one died of any other maternal mortality cause,

maternal mortality would show 10 deaths. [2]

 

 

N.O.W. claims: Until 1973, abortion was illegal in most

states. However laws never stopped abortion;

they only made poor women and teenagers risk

their lives to obtain illegal abortions in

"back alleys" or to attempt self-induced

abortion.

Prior to Roe vs. Wade, the mortality rate

for illegal abortions performed outside

hospitals by persons without medical training

was an estimated 100 deaths per 100,000

abortions.

FACT: In 1972, the year before the legalization of abortion,

there were only 39 deaths from illegal abortion and

24 deaths from legal abortion. [3]

The C.D.C. reports show 90 deaths from ALL types of

abortion in 1972. Legal, 24; illegal, 39; Spontaneous,

25; Other, 0; Unknown, 2. [4]

According to the C.D.C., 18 women died as a result of

abortion in 1982; of the 18 deaths, 11 were associated

with legally-induced abortion, 6 with spontaneous

abortion and 1 from illegal abortion. [5]

 

 

N.O.W. claims: Abortions were common even when illegal. An

estimated one million abortions occurred

annually before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Illegal abortions all too frequently resulted

in women being killed or their reproductive

organs being so damaged they were never able

to have children.

FACT: In 1972, the year before the legalization of abortion

there were only 596,760 abortions. Since then, abortions

have more than tripled. [6]

An American obstetrician surveyed 486 colleagues: 87% had

hospitalized women with complications from legal

abortion; 91% had treated patients with complications

from legal abortion; and 29 doctors reported patients

dying from legally-induced abortions. [7]

 

 

N.O.W. claims: There is no proven biological moment when life

begins.

FACT: "Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that

conception [they defined fertilization and conception to

be the same] marks the beginning of the life of a human

being -- a being that is alive and is a member of the

human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this

point in countless medical, biological, and scientific

writing." [8]

 

OTHER EVIDENCE OF THE DANGERS OF LEGAL ABORTION:

FACT: Legal abortion is now the leading cause of abortion-

related maternal deaths in the U.S. [9]

FACT: The younger the patient, the greater the gestation,

the higher the complication rate. [10]

FACT: Infection is the main cause of death associated with

legal abortion in the U.S. [11]

FACT: Exact incidence of abortion complications are unknown

because:

1. Many women don't know the name of the doctor who

performs the abortion.

2. The abortionist is often not the doctor who sees

the complication.

3. Less than 40% of patients go back to the clinic

where they were harmed.

4. Infection or other damage may not be recorded as

abortion-related.

5. Selective under-reporting may occur.

6. Federal and State laws which require reporting of

complications are not enforced, and often

considered unconstitutional. [12]

 

[1] Abortion Surveillance, 1975, Centers for Disease Control

[2] _Every Woman has a Right to Know the Dangers of Legal Abortion_,

Anne Saltenberger, Air Plus Publishers

[3] C.D.C. Surveillance Summaries, Vol. 36, No. 1SS, p. 38SS

[4] Ibid. Table 21, Page 41SS

[5] Ibid. p. 38SS

[6] Ibid. p. 12SS Table 1

[7] Deaths and Near Deaths from Legal Abortion, M.J. Bulfin, M.D.,

1975

[8] Report, Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary

Committee S-158, 97th. Congress, 1st. Session 1981, p. 7

[9] American Journal of OB. & GYN., 130(3) 375, Feb., 1978

[10] "Surveillance of Abortion Program in N.Y.C. Clinic" OB. & GYN.,

March, 1971 (NOTE: Prior to Roe v. Wade)

[11] OB. & GYN., Survey, pp. 177-191, 1979

[12] Saltenberger, _Every Woman_

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