Comments on: Abortion literacy

By: Jen R

Jen R — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:54:01 +0000

Good point!

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:22:09 +0000

I’d add that something most Americans aren’t aware of is that abortion is more heavily legally restricted in the majority of Europe than in the US. For example abortion is illegal in Ireland and only available on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece and Italy. Next time someone tells you that restricting late term abortions is the first step on the road to complete female oppression point out that Sweden has a gestational limit of 18 weeks and far superior women’s rights than the US.

By: Jen R

Jen R — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:39:33 +0000

Joan: they don’t all do it explicitly. For instance, some just ask strategically worded questions like “Do you think abortion should be a matter for a woman and her doctor to decide?” — implying that abortions are generally done for medical reasons — and then point to the results as proof of the “pro-choice majority”.

Others do what I was describing — they simply lump together the “legal in all circumstances” and “legal in some circumstances” groups, and claim them as “pro-choice”. Here’s a really blatant example: http://feminist.org/research/report/94_eight.html

Whether they do it explicitly or not, there’s no way to get to a “pro-choice majority” without including many people who say that abortion should be legal only under very limited circumstances, a view that these groups would decry as “anti-choice” in a political candidate.

Of course, there’s also no way to get to a “pro-life majority” without including those same people, whom many pro-life groups would not consider pro-life. Mostly, I think America has an “I don’t like abortion, but I also don’t want to think about it very much” majority.

Christina: those are great examples.

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:45:05 +0000

1. Roughly 90% of pre-legalization abortions were done by doctors (most of the rest by nurses and midwives) who simply started plying their trade legally with the change in law. The main thing legalization changed was who is HAVING abortions (roughly ten times more women) and how seriously we as a society take abortion quackery (It used to be murder; now it’s all a civil matter.)

2. There is virtually NO “consultation with her doctor” in the vast majority of abortions. Women are put on an assembly line, with only rudimentary counseling that’s more often just a sales talk, no discussion of the risks specific to them, and no meeting with the doctor whatsoever until they’re already prepped and in the stirrups.

3. Most women submitting to abortions don’t WANT abortions; they want other options. They’re going through with the abortions because their social networks won’t support them in giving birth.

4. Women continue to die from unsafe abortions — they’re just legal now. We don’t know how many because although the CDC publishes numbers, they are only counting those who slip through the barriers. (This is akin to setting up a bushel basket in the middle of an orchard, counting the apples that land in it, and claiming that you’ve counted every apple that fell in the entire orchard.)

By: LAmom

LAmom — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:22:08 +0000

When they claim to have a “pro-choice majority”, abortion advocates are counting people who believe that abortion should be legal in some circumstance as “pro-choice”.

Are you saying that people who believe abortion should be allowed when the mother’s life is in danger would have been counted in the “legal in some circumstances” group? So then if you or I had taken part in those surveys, we would be labeled “pro-choice”.

If that’s the way they classify people, then the only people who would count as pro-life are people who would demand that a woman must continue her pregnancy even if it’s killing her. That conclusion would then justify a claim that all pro-lifers are heartless woman-haters.