Facts are stubborn things (Commentary to come later)

-Only five percent of all abortions are done for the mother's physical or psychological health.

-Rape and incest are cited as reasons for less than 1 % of all abortions.

-Nationally, 82 % of women obtaining abortions are unmarried. The statistics strongly suggest abortion is used as birth control.

-Abortion has done nothing to reduce child abuse. Actually child abuse increased over 1000% from 1973, the year abortion was legalized throughout the United States, to 1986.

-Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, admits his group lied about the number of women who died from illegal abortions when testifying before the Supreme Court in 1972. "We spoke of 5,000 - 10,000 deaths a year.... I confess that I knew the figures were totally false ... it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?"

-The National Center for Heath Statistics reveals that before 1941, there were over 1,400 abortion-related deaths. Yet after Penicillin became available to control infections, the number of deaths was reduced in the 1950's to approximately 250 per year. By 1966, with abortion still illegal in all states, the number of deaths had dropped steadily to 120. The reason? New and better antibiotics, better surgery and the establishment of intensive care units in hospitals. This was in the face of a rising population.

-Dr. Anne Speckhard, in a 1985 University of Minnesota study, researched "long-term manifestations of abortion" (5-10 years), and found that 81% of mothers reported preoccupation with their aborted child, 54% had nightmares, 35% had perceived visitations with their child, and 96% felt their abortion had taken a human life.
Immediately after an abortion, many women report a feeling of relief ... which is what all abortionists want you to hear. What you won't hear of is the guilt and depression that frequently follows. A national poll found that at least 56% of women experience a sense of guilt over their decision, though the pollster himself acknowledged that many women will not even admit having had an abortion. [11] In fact, a five-year study shows that 25% of women who have had abortions sought out psychiatric care, versus just 3% of women who have not had abortions. [12] Further, numerous studies reveal that women who have had an abortion experience a high incidence of depression, stress, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings and substance abuse. [13]

Liberating Women??????

Abortion can be very dangerous for women.

Three international health organizations -- UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO -- have published warnings on abortion. The major problems that women face from separation from the fetus (whether by delivery or abortion) are hemorrhage, infection and obstruction. These risks are relevant in both births and abortions because the woman who aborts is already experiencing the changes of pregnancy and, thus, faces the risks associated with childbirth.

Obviously, the risks are greater in developing nations where the general health care is poorer, antibiotics are limited, and clean facilities and drugs for hemorrhage are less available than in developed nations. Experts agree that the key to saving women's lives -- even in developing nations -- is to improve overall health care for women rather than to legalize abortion.

Abortion is four times deadlier than childbirth.

Abortion advocates routinely claim that childbirth causes six, 10, or 12 times more deaths than abortion. Abortion clinics advertise that legal abortion is many times safer than childbirth. The statistical analysis agency for Finland's government conducted a very accurate and complete study that reveals that out of 100,000 women, there were 281 cases of maternal deaths – 27 were women who had given birth, 48 were women who had miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, and 101 were women who had abortions.

When the researchers calculated ratios, they determined that women who abort are 3.5 times more likely to die within a year than are women who carry to term. More startlingly, the researchers reported that the risk of death from suicide within a year of an abortion is more than seven times higher than the risk of suicide within a year of childbirth. A Canadian study revealed similar findings, as did a study of Medicaid payments in Virginia.

Sadly, many women have none of this information about the dangers of abortion. Instead, they know only the front-page information that has become conventional U.S. wisdom. Indeed, only a minute number of abortion deaths are classified as such in official data -- which leaves women at the mercy of abortion lies instead of being well informed about abortion

Medical progress, not the legalization of abortion, reduced maternal deaths.

The decrease in maternal mortality coincided with the development of better obstetric techniques -- antibiotics, blood transfusions and better management of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy – and improvements in the general health status of women. In fact, even the United Nations Population Division and World Health Organization acknowledge that there has been no substantial increase in maternal mortality since 1995, even though more women than ever had access to legalized abortion.

Sadly, they acknowledge that 99 percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries and that those deaths could be prevented with adequate basic health care and good obstetric care before and after births. WHO also supports the view that improvements in general health and the development of modern obstetric techniques would dramatically (WHO's word) decrease maternal mortality in developing nations.

Worldwide data does not support the conclusion that legalizing abortion is responsible for reduced maternal mortality. Ireland, with one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, has not legalized abortion. The United States, which "legalized" abortion in 1973 and has high general health standards, has a maternal mortality rate that is four times that of Ireland. In Finland, where abortion is legal, a study has shown that the risk of dying within a year after an abortion is several times higher than the risk of dying after miscarriage or childbirth.