Those who promote a “right to abortion” claim it is necessary to prevent women from being harmed by undergoing illegal abortions or that it’s necessary to improve women’s status in society.
Many politicians claim to be “personally pro-life” but argue that abortion needs to remain legal so the women who are going to choose it are at least safe.
These arguments assume that abortion is safe and does help women. Which it doesn’t. In fact, it does just the opposite.
Physical Effects of Abortion
Despite the legalization of abortion, women continue to be scarred, sterilized, and even killed by botched abortions. According to Life Dynamics’ Blackmun Wall, at least 347 women have died from “safe and legal” abortions in America. (Also visit the Cemetery of Choice.)
The National Abortion Federation (an “abortion rights”organization) admits that 2.5% of women undergoing first trimester abortions (the “safest” and most common of all abortions) face minor complications and 0.5% face serious complications. With 1.21 million American women having abortions yearly, this means that minimum of 30,250 women–according to the abortion industry (which is likely to under-report for obvious reasons)–are injured by abortion every year; 6,050 are injured seriously. These complications (again according to the NAF) include:
blood clots…; infections…; a tear in the cervix…; perforation (a puncture or tear) of the wall of the uterus and/or other organs… this may heal itself or may require surgical repair or, rarely, hysterectomy; missed abortion, which does not end the pregnancy and requires the abortion to be repeated…; incomplete abortion, in which tissue from the pregnancy remains in the uterus, and requires a repeat suction procedure…; excessive bleeding requiring a blood transfusion.
These complications strike me as being more than minor problems. (The NAF’s claims that abortion is much safer than childbirth are answered already here.)
Psychological Damage from Abortion
The demand for post abortion healing programs like Rachel’s Vineyard shows that women are deeply hurt by their abortions emotionally and spiritually. The women of Silent No More number in the thousands. These women have committed themselves to spreading the truth about abortion because they were lied to by those who said abortion was an easy solution to their pregnancies.
Abortion is not health care. Real health care treats the underlying conditions that are causing the problem. Abortion, though, eliminates the pregnancy pretending that this was the only problem the woman was facing.
This is never the case, though. These women are facing problems with their boyfriends, their parents, their finances, their self-esteem, and so much more when they walk into an abortion clinic. These problems still exist after the abortion–and many of these problems, like poverty or rocky relationships, may even be compounded by the abortion.
A Forced “Choice” Is No Choice at All
Additionally, the mantra of “choice” suggests that women calmly and rationally choose abortion when faced with a crisis pregnancy. This is not an accurate representation of the issue, though.
The majority of women who “choose” abortion do so because they feel they have no other choice because they are not emotionally capable (32%) or financially capable (25%) of raising a child.
They “choose” abortion because they are forced to by society and by their circumstances.
Instead of pushing women towards abortion, politicians should seek to expand federal funding for real choices to women–like more funding for crisis pregnancy centers (which offer emotional and financial support) and assistance for adoption. In this way, politicians will really be supporting women, instead of supporting policies that devalue and injure women.
