RubySoho
Winston
How Many Abortions BEFORE Roe v Wade?
August 25th 2008 13:03
When perusing a website or blog that claims to be pro-life, more often than not, you will come across statistics such as this:
"There have been more than 40 million abortions since 1973"
(National Right to Life)
and this:
"Since January 22, 1973 - (Roe v Wade)
52, 520, 348
babies have been aborted in the United States."
(teenshelter.org. This website cracks me up. If you keep the page open long enough the numbers will click over. The last three digits went from 348 to 398 in the time it took me to link to the page).
and this:
Babies Killed
49, 411, 329
since Roe v. Wade
(life dynamics.org This one also ticks over.)
Okay, let's ignore the discrepancies in those statistics. Either NRL is a tad lazy or the others are overzealous. For the sake of argument we'll find some middle ground and say that there have been 45 million abortions in America since the landmark 1973 court ruling that legalised abortion. That is roughly 1.3 million abortions per year. But one thing these websites will not tell you is how many American women had abortions before Roe v Wade. Yes, women did have abortions before Roe v Wade for despite the bleating of pro-life groups Roe v Wade did not actually invent abortion. It did not force or convince women who would otherwise happily carry their pregnancy to term to suddenly deny their maternal instincts and succumb to the evil lure of the abortion clinic.
So just how many women did have abortions before 1973? It was illegal remember. And dangerous. So how many women were willing to take the risk? A few thousand per year? A few hundred? Of course it's impossible to give an accurate number since the abortions were cloaked in secrecy, so any figure would have to be estimate.
And this is the estimate. According to the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the Feminist Majority Foundation 1.2 million women resorted to illegal abortions every year.
Whoa Nelly! Do you mean to tell me that making abortion illegal does absolutely nothing to reduce the amount of abortions performed every year? That women would still have them even if the law and Jesus Christ himself told them they couldn't (which he never did by the way). That today, even in countries where abortion is still a crime, millions of women risk their lives and criminal conviction out of a desperate desire to avoid giving birth?
Yes. Yes. And yes. I have blogged about this before here.
Criminalising abortion will not make it go away. Not by a long shot. It will, however drive it into the underground once more this will put women at risk again.
And here is another statistic that you will never come across on a pro-life website.
The number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million between 1995 and 2003...the abortion rate decreased more in developed countries, where abortion is generally safe and legal on broad grounds (from 39 (abortions per 1000 women) to 26), than in developing countries, where the procedure is largely illegal and unsafe (from 34 to 29).
That's from the Guttmacher Institute and I will blog about that in more detail shortly because I think it deserves a thorough analysis.. But in a nutshell, access to abortion and contraception actually decreases the amount of abortions.
Crazy, innit?
-Ruby
"There have been more than 40 million abortions since 1973"
(National Right to Life)
and this:
"Since January 22, 1973 - (Roe v Wade)
52, 520, 348
babies have been aborted in the United States."
(teenshelter.org. This website cracks me up. If you keep the page open long enough the numbers will click over. The last three digits went from 348 to 398 in the time it took me to link to the page).
and this:
Babies Killed
49, 411, 329
since Roe v. Wade
(life dynamics.org This one also ticks over.)
Okay, let's ignore the discrepancies in those statistics. Either NRL is a tad lazy or the others are overzealous. For the sake of argument we'll find some middle ground and say that there have been 45 million abortions in America since the landmark 1973 court ruling that legalised abortion. That is roughly 1.3 million abortions per year. But one thing these websites will not tell you is how many American women had abortions before Roe v Wade. Yes, women did have abortions before Roe v Wade for despite the bleating of pro-life groups Roe v Wade did not actually invent abortion. It did not force or convince women who would otherwise happily carry their pregnancy to term to suddenly deny their maternal instincts and succumb to the evil lure of the abortion clinic.
So just how many women did have abortions before 1973? It was illegal remember. And dangerous. So how many women were willing to take the risk? A few thousand per year? A few hundred? Of course it's impossible to give an accurate number since the abortions were cloaked in secrecy, so any figure would have to be estimate.
And this is the estimate. According to the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the Feminist Majority Foundation 1.2 million women resorted to illegal abortions every year.
Whoa Nelly! Do you mean to tell me that making abortion illegal does absolutely nothing to reduce the amount of abortions performed every year? That women would still have them even if the law and Jesus Christ himself told them they couldn't (which he never did by the way). That today, even in countries where abortion is still a crime, millions of women risk their lives and criminal conviction out of a desperate desire to avoid giving birth?
Yes. Yes. And yes. I have blogged about this before here.
Criminalising abortion will not make it go away. Not by a long shot. It will, however drive it into the underground once more this will put women at risk again.
And here is another statistic that you will never come across on a pro-life website.
The number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million between 1995 and 2003...the abortion rate decreased more in developed countries, where abortion is generally safe and legal on broad grounds (from 39 (abortions per 1000 women) to 26), than in developing countries, where the procedure is largely illegal and unsafe (from 34 to 29).
That's from the Guttmacher Institute and I will blog about that in more detail shortly because I think it deserves a thorough analysis.. But in a nutshell, access to abortion and contraception actually decreases the amount of abortions.
Crazy, innit?
-Ruby
| 91 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
someone once told me it was 3 billion . . . hmmm i guess its hard to read the zeros while you are grinding your axe!
however, i will ask the inevitable question:
how did NARAL and FMF generate that estimation?
did they disclose what information it was based on or reveal their methods of calculation?
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
The stats comes from this book:
Tietze C, Henshaw SK. Induced Abortion: A World Review, 1986. New York: The Guttmacher Institute, 1986
I'm really not sure how the Guttmacher Institute collates their data, but I have linked to the site above.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
- pro-life supporters seem to assume that pro-choice supporters are just sitting around, delighted at having abortions. No one likes having abortions, and it's a difficult thing to go through. We just argue that there should be the best medical care possible IF you choose to have the procedure.
- have you read Freakonomics? It's not that good a read, but an interesting point: there's been a massive decline in violent crime in America in the late 80s and 90s, which most people attribute to the draconian police measures taken during those decades.
The author of Freakonomics argues a different point: that since Roe vs. Wade, people that were not ready for parenthood opted for abortions, resulting in, 18-20 years later, a huge drop in the number of kids raised in neglected conditions.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
And yeah, somewhere along the way the pro-lifers have managed to totally warp the move to legalise abortion. Drives me crazy but what can we do but continue to put forward the real reasons? As I've said before even today, in countries where abortion is a punishable crime, millions of women still have them.
I'm getting a little concerned at the recent rise in anti-abortion propaganda I've been seeing in Victoria lately. I thought we were beyond that by now. Guess not.
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
Imagine how many abortions the Pope could prevent if he told everyone to use condoms...not to mention HIV.
Comment by Injustice fighter
If that is the case, then by that logic we should probably legalize all other crimes if we really want to reduce crime and watch the crime rate plummet! Or perhaps the 1.2 million illegal abortion claims are grossly exaggerated? You decide.