One death is a tragedy, but a million deaths are merely a
statistic.
Josef Stalin.
Anti-Life Mentality.
Your [pro-life] opposition's tack is primarily emotional ...
Discredit the opposition's statistics. They are mostly out of date (no
where near as up-to-date as yours) and mostly distorted ... Remember,
they'll try to hold you to these [when does life begin] arguments
because they are about all they have in a meager arsenal ...
National Abortion Rights Action League.[1]
Abortion must remain legal, if only because of the very large number
of pregnant women whose lives are directly and seriously threatened by
their fetuses, and because of the thousands of women who become pregnant
because of rape and incest every year. Additionally, many older women
need abortion because they have an extremely high percentage of deformed
fetuses.
To restrict or outlaw abortion in these cases especially would
be punitive, brutal, and inhumane.
Introduction.
It is my personal belief that the only requirement for an abortion,
under any circumstances, should be the desire of the woman whatever
her reason to interrupt her pregnancy.
Illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett.[2]
It is interesting indeed to watch a well-prepared pro-life debater
sit down with a typical pro-abortionist in front of an audience and
discuss the issues. To begin with, years of propaganda like that dished
out by the National Abortion Rights Action League (see above) and other
groups has convinced the pro-aborts that their position is absolutely
solid, logical and unassailable by mere 'anti-choice fanatics.' It is
amusing to watch the shock on a pro-abort's face as he is demolished in
a face-to-face debate, especially if the pro-lifer uses slides or
transparencies.
The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words holds just as
true today as it did in the past. A pro-life debater can modify this old
saying by painting 'word pictures' for audiences in order to get vivid
points across. A debater will make a tremendous impact on listeners by
using his imagination to relate the abortion issue to everyday images
that people are already familiar with.
In other words, the issue must be framed in terms that people
understand and will remember.
This is an extremely effective tactic, especially when the
pro-lifer's sources are reliable and unimpeachable, or when his sources
originate with pro-abortion people or organizations.
This chapter includes figures that give detailed statistics on
abortion, and presents several examples of how to illustrate 'word
pictures' for your audience.
The figures contained in this chapter are as follows.
Figure 87-1: Basic abortion statistics
by year for the United States, 1965 to 1992.
Figure 87-2: Graphic showing annual
legal abortions in the United States for the years 1970 to 1992.
Figure 87-3: Statistical profile of
women obtaining abortions breakdown by age, race, marital status, prior
births and abortions, and weeks of gestation.
Figure 87-4: Overall statistical
analysis of abortions, showing percentages of abortions for women by
marital status, gestational age, the 'hard cases,' and resulting
percentages for 'convenience' abortions. This figure includes the most
useful statistics that are generally used in debates.
Figure 87-5: A graphical
representation of the numbers given in Figure 87-4, showing why women
abort and comparing the 'hard cases' to the number of abortions for
'convenience.' Figures 87-4 and 87-5 may be copied in back-to-back
format for use as an informational flyer or a handout at debates.
Figure 87-6: A bar chart showing the
leading causes of death in the United States, including abortion, heart
and lung diseases, all cancers, all accidents, and all other causes.
Figure 87-7: A list of the leading
causes of death in the United States, including abortion, heart and lung
diseases, all cancers, all accidents, and all other causes.
Figure 87-8: The reasons why women
obtain abortions. Results of surveys of the women themselves, performed
by a veteran illegal abortionist and today's pro-abortion organizations.
This two-page table can be used as a double-sided handout at debates.
The most important conclusion that can be drawn from all of these
figures must be hammered home relentlessly by pro-life debaters: THE
ABORTION 'HARD CASES' ACCOUNT FOR LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF ALL
ABORTIONS!
Another important point that may be made from Figure 87-4 is that
more than one-third of women who obtain abortions were not using
contraception at the time they became pregnant. In other words, they are
using abortion as birth control. This is in direct conflict with
the tired Planned Parenthood refrain that "Almost no one approves
of abortion as a method of birth control, including the people who
provide abortion services."[3]
Unless, of course, one can make a lot of money off of careless women then
the approval is very evident indeed.
The Role of the 'Hard
Cases.'
A medically necessary abortion is any abortion a woman asks for.
Minnesota abortionist Jane Hodgeson.[4]
Powerful Weapons.
The most powerful weapon ever used by pro-abortion strategists is
unquestionably their manufactured images of suffering and desperate
women being brutalized at the hands of back-alley butchers.
In addition to this fictitious horror show, pro-abortion
propagandists invariably stress the "hard cases" when
fighting to repeal abortion laws and when battling any limits on
abortion whatsoever.
These twin weapons of deception have definitely accomplished what
they were designed to do. One of the reasons that public opinion may be
skewed toward the 'pro-choice' position is that Americans tend to
grossly overestimate the probability of occurrence of catastrophic or
unfavorable events in all fields, including abortion.
An August 1990 Wirthlin Group survey of 2,000 voters nationwide
showed that 47% believe that there are less than 500,000 abortions per
year, as opposed to the actual number of 1.6 million. Respondents also
said that an average of 46 percent of all abortions are performed to
save the life of the mother and for rape and incest an overestimation of
25,000 percent![5]
Since most people overestimate the percentage of 'hard case'
abortions by a factor of 250, it is no surprise that they would want to
keep abortion legal in order to remedy the perceived 'epidemic' of
rapes, cases of incest, deformed babies, and life-threatening
pregnancies.
Dust 'Em Off Again ...
The pro-aborts heavily emphasized the 'hard cases' in their drive to
legalize abortion, and they are now pulling the same tactic out of
mothballs in their continuing efforts to keep abortion legal.
When the National Abortion Rights Action League perceived a growing
threat to "abortion rights" in the mid-1980s, it attempted to
capitalize on this theme with its so-called "Silent No More"
sympathy campaign. NARAL hoped to gather thousands of vividly-written
stories of women who had had illegal abortions (or who knew other women
who had done so), and planned to publicize them heavily in order to
influence public opinion on abortion.
However, despite the fact that it was heavily publicized by all
branches of the major media, the "Silent No More" campaign was
a resounding flop by any possible standards of measurement.
The Big Effort.
NARAL made its biggest push for stories in May of 1985, when it
advertised heavily among its 200,000 members and the public, asking for
letters detailing experiences with illegal abortions. NARAL proudly
claimed that they received "Tens of thousands of letters,"
but, mysteriously, only 68 were submitted to the Congressional Record
for publication on May 22nd, and even these were of poor (even
ridiculous) quality.
For example, one rambling letter in the Record claimed that
Thirty-five years ago I was pregnant my baby had died in 4th month
of pregnancy but because of abortion being illegal I couldn't have an
abortion I had to carry that dead child for 5 months before I finally
aborted it myself. I carried that child for 5 agonizing months knowing
I was carrying a dead child please legalize abortion it must be pro
choice.[6]
Anyone who knows anything about fetal development or obstetrics will
realize that the situation described above is physically impossible.
It was revealing to note that most of NARAL's letters were written
not by women who were in truly desperate circumstances, but by women who
wanted abortion to remain legal for purely selfish reasons of
convenience. One typical letter asserted that
My abortion occurred when I was a married adult woman. I simply had
not fully dealt with the role of motherhood, and how it might impact
upon the rather new career path which I was pursuing. I was not raped.
I do not think I carried a deformed fetus. I was not a teenager. I was
simply a woman who believes that her uterus was her own, as was the
decision as to when or if it would bear a child.[6]
The Pro-Life Response.
There is only one possible effective pro-life response to
pro-abortionists who stress or overestimate the 'hard cases;' a
counterattack in the form of verifiable statistics showing just
how rare these 'hard cases' really are. The rebuttal made by the
pro-lifer must be concise and vigorous in order to make the solid
impression that the pro-abortionists are lying.
The pro-life response can be aided with word pictures, some of which
are described below.
The Corresponding 'Trivial Cases.'
Another tactic that a pro-lifer may use to counter the 'hard cases'
sob stories trotted out by pro-aborts is the 'trivial case'
counterattack. This consists of emphasizing some of the more famous
cases of abortions obtained by well-known people for true
personal convenience and purely selfish reasons. If a pro-lifer
describes these situations and then asks a pro-abort whether or not these
abortions are justified, the pro-abort will be compelled by his
philosophy to either reply in the affirmative or ignore the question.
This will reveal him to be either a true fanatic or completely
close-minded.
At least two examples of well-documented trivial abortion cases come
readily to mind.
The first of these was described in the litigation Conn v. Conn,
which was the first pure 'father's rights' litigation brought to the
attention of the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin Andrew Conn of
Elkhart, Indiana, won a court order in June 1988 barring his wife from
having an abortion. She defied the court injunction and the wishes of
the father of her preborn child and obtained an abortion with the help
of the American Civil Liberties Union. Her lawyer, Richard A. Waples of
the Indiana ACLU, stated in legal papers that "She did what she had
to do to protect both her physical and emotional health." Sounds
like a pretty serious reason to get an abortion, doesn't it?
In reality, court documents showed that she had the abortion because
she had planned a trip to the beach and wanted to look good in her new
bathing suit![7]
In the other case, European investigators discovered a hideous and
widespread practice among female track and field athletes. Coaches and
trainers without a trace of morals found that early pregnancy would
actually enhance the athletic performance of their female competitors in
many events. Therefore, the women would be artificially inseminated by
their coaches, would compete in their events at anywhere from five to
seven weeks of pregnancy, and would then travel en masse to local
abortion mills to kill their preborn children.
Gynecology professor Renate Hoch of Geneva said "The problem has
become so widespread now that my colleagues and I last week made a rule
never to help a woman athlete if she wants to get pregnant purely and
simply to win a race."[8]
The London newspaper Sunday Mirror reported that
"Success-hungry women competitors are now improving their
performances by deliberately becoming pregnant and then having
abortions," and quoted Finnish sports medicine expert Dr. Risto
Erkola: "It's horrible and immoral. Now that drug testing is
routine, pregnancy is becoming the favorite way of getting an edge on
competitors."[8]
Contrast this practice to the position taken by many
pro-abortionists, reflected in Anne Gaylor's amazingly-named book Abortion
is a Blessing: "No woman ever gets pregnant in order to
have an abortion."[9]
FIGURE 87-1
UNITED STATES LEGAL ABORTION STATISTICS, 1965-1992
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view'
setting is recommended, otherwise, the tables may be discombobulated.]
Legal
Abortions Per
Legal [Legal
Abortion Percentages*] 1,000 Women
Year
Abortions
All
White
Minority Aged 15
to 44
1965
7,000
0.2%
0.2
1966
9,500
0.3%
0.2
1967
13,700
0.4%
0.3
1968
18,000
0.6%
0.4
1969
73,000
1.8%
1.5
1970
193,500
4.0%
3.4%
17.6%
3.9
1971
485,800
10.8%
7.1%
20.1%
8.0
1972
586,800
13.5%
9.4%
22.0%
13.2
1973
744,600
15.3%
11.9%
27.9%
16.7
1974
898,600
18.0%
14.4%
33.7%
19.1
1975
1,034,200
23.9%
16.6%
38.8%
21.7
1976
1,179,300
26.5%
18.9%
44.3%
24.2
1977
1,316,700
28.6%
20.9%
49.0%
26.4
1978
1,409,400
29.2%
22.6%
52.9%
27.7
1979
1,497,700
29.6%
24.0%
56.2%
28.8
1980
1,553,900
30.0%
24.4%
55.6%
29.3
1981
1,577,300
30.0%
24.4%
55.9%
29.3
1982
1,573,900
30.0%
23.8%
55.5%
28.8
1983
1,575,000
30.4%
23.4%
55.5%
28.5
1984
1,577,200
29.7%
23.1%
55.8%
28.1
1985
1,588,100
29.8%
22.7%
57.7%
28.0
1986
1,475,000
27.9%
22.5%
57.0%
27.2
1987
1,510,000
29.1%
22.8%
58.5%
27.6
1988
1,540,000
29.4%
23.5%
59.6%
28.1
1989
1,520,000
29.9%
22.4%
57.8%
27.9
1990
1,535,000
28.9%
22.7%
57.9%
27.8
1991
1,545,000
28.8%
22.6%
58.5%
27.6
1992
1,540,000
28.5%
23.3%
59.1%
27.4
28 YRS 29,578,200
26.1%
23.3%
56.6%
25. 6
NOTE: * = Percentage of all pregnancies
ending in abortion.
References: United States Bureau of
Commerce, Department of the Census. National Data Book and Guide to
Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1990, 110th
edition. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. Table
101, "Legal Abortions, By Selected Characteristics: 1973 to
1985." Also: annual statistics from the Centers for Disease Control
Abortion Surveillance Unit and the Alan Guttmacher Institute in the Alan
Guttmacher Institute's Family Planning Perspectives.
FIGURE 87-2
ANNUAL LEGAL ABORTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1970 TO 1992
GRAPH NOT AVAILABLE
Reference: United States Bureau of Commerce,
Department of the Census. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States. 1990, 110th edition. Washington, DC:
United States Government Printing Office. Table 101, "Legal
Abortions, By Selected Characteristics: 1973 to 1985." Also: annual
figures from the Centers for Disease Control Abortion Surveillance Unit
and the Alan Guttmacher Institute appearing in Planned Parenthood/Alan
Guttmacher Institute's publication Family Planning Perspectives.
FIGURE 87-3
STATISTICAL PROFILE OF WOMEN OBTAINING ABORTIONS, 1980 TO 1988
(all numbers in thousands)
Average
9-Year
YEAR 1980 1981
1982 1983 1984
1985 1986 1987
1988 Percents
LEGAL ABORTIONS
1,554 1,577 1,574 1,575
1,577 1,588 1,475 1,510
1,540 100.0%
Age of Women
<15
15
15
15
16
16
17
16
18
18 1.0%
15-19
445 433
419 411
405 411
368 402
411 26.3%
20-24 549
555 552
547 562
572 542
519 533
35.5%
25-29 304
316 326
328 332
319 299
315 314
20.2%
30-34 153
167 168
172 167
170 159
161 165
10.8%
35-39
67
70
73
78
74
77
72
75
78 4.9%
40+
21
21
21
21
21
22
19
20
21 1.3%
Race of Women
White 1,094 1,108
1,095 1,084 1,079
1,066 998 1,003
1,029 68.3%
Minority 460
470 479
491 498
522 477
507 511 31.7%
Marital Status
Married 320
299 300
295 303
295 277
288 275 18.9%
Single 1,234 1,279
1,274 1,280 1,274
1,293 1,198 1,222 1,265 80.1%
Prior Births
None
900 912
903 890
886 894
807 828
830 56.4%
One
305 312
321 329
338 335
319 323
330 20.8%
Two
216 220
222 228
219
225 221
231 241 14.4%
Three
83
85
82
83
88
90
82
85
92 5.5%
Four+
51
49
46
45
46
44
46
43 47
2.9%
Prior Abortions
None 1,043
1,023 994
964 944
942 809
841 845 59.9%
One
373 390
398 406
411 415
426 431
445 26.5%
Two+ 138
165 182
205
222
231 240
238 250 13.6%
Weeks of Gestation
8-9 wks 800
810 806
792 790
786 694
731 740 49.7%
9-10 wks 417
424 420
424 430
433 422
414 425 27.3%
1-12 wks 202
204 205
210 213
220 214
219 223 13.7%
13-26 wks 123 126
129 136
129
134 132
131 136 8.4%
27-40 wks 13
13
14
13
15
15
13
15 16
0.9%
References. United States Bureau of
Commerce, Department of the Census. National Data Book and Guide to
Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1990, 110th
edition. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. Table
101, "Legal Abortions, By Selected Characteristics: 1973 to
1985." Also: Alan Guttmacher Institute and Center for Disease
Control Abortion Surveillance Unit annual reports.
FIGURE 87-4
ANALYSIS OF UNITED STATES ABORTION STATISTICS
PERCENT
AVERAGE ANNUAL ABORTIONS, 1981 to 1990
1,550,000 100%
CONTRACEPTIVE USE[1]
Women not using contraception
(abortion as birth
control)
555,000 37%
Failed
contraception
995,000 63%
MARITAL STATUS[2]
Unmarried
1,255,500 81%
Married
294,500 19%
TRIMESTER OF ABORTIONS[2]
First trimester (1-13
weeks)
1,395,000 90%
Second trimester (14-26
weeks)
139,500 9%
Third trimester (27-40
weeks)
15,500 1%
THE 'HARD CASES'
To save the mother's life or
health[3]
2,050 0.13%
For rape and
incest[4]
980 0.07%
For fetal birth
defects[5]
3,750 0.24%
For girls under 15 years
old[2]
15,500 1.00%
For women over 40 years
old[2]
20,150 1.30%
Total 'hard
cases'
42,430 2.74%
Non-Medically Indicated
Abortions
1,507,570 97.26%
Notes. [1] Planned Parenthood and various
government agencies vary somewhat in their estimates, but generally
agree that there are about two million contraceptive failures in the
United States every year. About half of these women abort. For more
detailed statistics and information on contraceptive failure rates, see
Chapter 99 of Volume III, "Contraceptive Use and
Effectiveness." [2] United States Bureau of Commerce, Department of
the Census. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States. 1990, 110th edition. Washington, DC:
United States Government Printing Office. Table 101, "Legal
Abortions, By Selected Characteristics: 1973 to 1985." Also: Alan
Guttmacher Institute (AGI) annual reports. [3] Based on the very liberal
standards used by the Hyde Amendment. This amendment covered poor women
(about 20 percent of all women), and paid for a total of 811 abortions
to save the mother's life in Fiscal Years 1983 to 1984. Assuming that
such a ratio would apply to all women, the total number of
abortions performed all over the country to save the mother's life would
be about 2,050 per year. This figure includes abortions for serious
health problems. For more detailed information, see Chapter 59,
"Maternal Deaths Due to Abortion," and Chapter 51,
"Health Indications for Abortion." [4] Assumes all rapes and
incests resulting in pregnancy are aborted, and that as many pregnancies
are caused by incest as by rape. For supporting calculations, see
Chapter 79, "Rape and Incest Exceptions for Abortion." [5]
David A. Grimes, M.D. "Second-Trimester Abortions in the United
States." Alan Guttmacher Institute's Family Planning
Perspectives, November/December 1984. Dr. Grimes quotes a range of
from 1,500 to 3,750 abortions per year for serious birth defects. This
agrees with an empirical solution; i.e., the average maternal age is 26
years. For this age, an average of one in 769 pregnancies results in a
child with a serious or debilitating birth defect, including Down
Syndrome, Trisomy-13 and Trisomy-18, and sickle cell anemia. Many babies
with such birth defects are born, but are offset by a similar number of
healthy babies aborted due to 'false positive' genetic tests. This would
result in a figure of about 2,000 eugenic abortions per year. For
further information and statistics, see Chapter 38, "Risks of Birth
Defects."
FIGURE 87-5
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF THE REASONS WOMEN OBTAIN ABORTIONS
(From Figure 87-4: Annual Averages, 1980 to
1988)
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
REASONS 1,543,345
Birth defects (eugenic
abortions)
3,750
Life or physical health of the
mother
2,050
Rape and
incest
855
FIGURE 87-6
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1990
ABORTION
1,570,000
ALL HEART
DISEASES
980,000
ALL
CANCERS
510,000
ALL OTHER
CAUSES
460,000
ALL LUNG
DISEASES
160,000
ALL
ACCIDENTS
100,000
Note. (*) "All other causes"
includes, among many other causes of death, murder, suicide, septicemia,
congenital abnormalities, AIDS, ulcers, tuberculosis, meningitis, and
hepatitis.
Reference: United States Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Reference Data Book and Guide to
Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington,
DC: United States Government Printing Office. 1990 (110th Edition).
Table 115, "Deaths and Death Rates, By Selected Causes: 1970 to
1988."
FIGURE 87-7
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1990, COMPARED TO
ABORTION
Deaths
Rank Cause of
Death
in
1988
Abortion Causes:
1
Abortion
1,540,000
2 Ischemic heart
diseases
511,100
3 times as many deaths
3 Cerebrovascular
diseases
150,300
10 times as many deaths
4 Lung
cancer
140,800
11 times as many deaths
5 Stomach/peritoneum
cancer
116,600
13 times as many deaths
6
Pneumonia
75,400
20 times as many deaths
7 Cancer of the genital
organs
53,700
29 times as many deaths
8 Motor vehicle
accidents
50,100
31 times as many deaths
9 Breast
cancer
43,000
36 times as many deaths
10 Diabetes
mellitus
39,600
39 times as many deaths
11
Suicide
30,300
51 times as many deaths
12 Cirrhosis/liver
diseases
26,100
59 times as many deaths
13 Atherosclerosis
23,700
65 times as many deaths
14 Hypertensive heart
diseases
22,900
67 times as many deaths
15 Homicide (murder/manslaughter)
22,200
69 times as many deaths
16 Nephritis/nephrosis
21,900
70 times as many deaths
17
Septicemia
20,900
74 times as many deaths
18
AIDS
19,886
77 times as many deaths
19 Cancers of the urinary
tract
19,400
79 times as many deaths
20
Leukemia
17,400
89 times as many deaths
21
Emphysema
15,800
97 times as many deaths
22 Congenital
abnormalities
12,800
120 times as many deaths
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
31
SIDS
5,230
295 times as many deaths
68 Airplane
crashes
1,145 1,345 times
as many deaths
Reference: United States Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Reference Data Book and Guide to
Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington,
DC: United States Government Printing Office. 1990 (110th Edition), 991
pages. Table 115, "Deaths and Death Rates, By Selected Causes: 1970
to 1988."
FIGURE 87-8
REASONS WOMEN OBTAIN ABORTIONS: RESULTS OF STUDIES AND SURVEYS
GOVERNMENT SURVEYS
Louisiana
Pennsylvania
Japan Totals
Reason Given 1975-1988
[A] 1983-1984 [B] 1969 [C]
By Woman
Mother's
life/health
863
58
630 1,551 (0.18%)
Fetal
deformity
103
1,826 1,929
(0.22%)
Rape or
incest
46
5
221
272 (0.03%)
Mother's mental health
114,231
22,756
741,774 878,761 (99.57%)
TOTALS
115,243
22,819
744,451 882,543 (100.0%)
SURVEY BY ILLEGAL ABORTIONIST RUTH BARNETT, WHO PERFORMED 40,000
ABORTIONS [E]
"Women seek out abortionists for a wide variety of reasons. In
my 50 years of practice I have found that women seeking termination of
pregnancy fall into the following categories:
1. Relatively young, married women who, already, have more children
than they and their husbands feel they can afford.
2. Married women, past 40, who already have large families and are
either too weary or too poor to take on additional burdens.
3. Married women past 40 who fear the rigors of child bearing in
their later years and the responsibility of caring for a child.
4. Married women whose husbands have been away overseas. Hundreds
of such women came to me during the Korean war.
5. Divorcees or widows. Such women believe the encumbrance of a
child would tend to limit their opportunities for remarriage.
6. Unmarried women, including young girls.
7. Women, usually married, who have had difficult birth experiences
in the past and feel they cannot endure them again.
8. Women who have already given birth to defective children and who
have been warned by doctors against further pregnancies.
"Fear is the underlying factor for virtually every woman who
ever came to me for an abortion. Until very recently, the unwed mother
has feared the dishonor, the disgrace and social stigma attendant upon
bearing an illegitimate child ..."
ALAN GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE SURVEY [D]
Reason Given By Woman (more than one may be
given) Percent
I'm concerned about how a baby would change
my life 76%
I can't afford a baby right now 68%
I have problems with my relationship 51%
I want to avoid single parenthood 51%
I don't want others to know I was having premarital sex 31%
I'm not ready for the responsibility 31%
I'm not mature enough to have a baby 30%
I have all the children I want 26%
My husband or boyfriend wants me to abort 23%
The baby has a possible health problem 13%
My health is not good enough to have a baby 7%
My parents want me to abort 7%
I am a victim of rape or incest 1%
NOTES. [A] In Louisiana, the abortionist must
fill out a form entitled "Report of Induced Termination of
Pregnancy" (Form #PHS 16-ab) for every abortion he performs. The
form notes at the top that "Failure to complete and file this form
is a crime." Item 9d on this form is entitled "Reason for
Pregnancy Termination." The Office of Public Health of the
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals compiles these statistics.
Over the 14-year period 1975 to 1988, 202,135 abortions were performed
in Louisiana. Of these, the reasons were listed for 115,243 of them. The
reasons for these abortions are listed above. [B] The Pennsylvania study
statistics were contained in a February 24, 1986 letter from Walter W.
Cohen, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Post Office
Box 2675, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105, telephone: (717) 787-2600, to
Representative Stephen F. Freind, House of Representatives, Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania 17120. [C] The Japanese study statistics were contained in
a paper written by Yokichi Hayasaka, M.D., et.al., entitled
"Japan's 22 Year Experience With a Liberal Abortion Law,"
presented at the XIIth International Conference of FIAMC (International
Federation of Catholic Medical Associations) in Washington, D.C.,
Shoreham Hotel, October 11 to 14, 1970. The original data was extracted
from the Japanese Ministry of Welfare's Bureau of Statistics
"Eugenic Protection Statistical Report 1969," June 1970, page
24. [D] More than one reason may be given by each respondent. Aida
Torres, speaking at the 1990 annual meeting of the Association of
Reproductive Health Officials (formerly the Association of Planned
Parenthood Professionals) released the results of an Alan Guttmacher
Institute survey of 1,900 women in 38 states who were waiting for
abortions. These women filled out a form asking them why they were
obtaining abortions. This survey is described in Aida Torres and
Jacqueline Darroch Forrest. "Why Do Women Have Abortions?"
Alan Guttmacher Institute/Planned Parenthood's Family Planning
Perspectives, July/August 1988, pages 169 to 176. [E] Ruth Barnett. They
Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton, Oregon: Halo Publishers, 1969, pages
114 and 115.
Example Word Pictures.
The Vietnam Memorial.
A pro-life debater might get his audience thinking by asking how many
of them have visited the National Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
He can describe the Memorial as a black wall that stretches 492 feet and
lists the names of the 58,022 known Americans killed in that war.
He may then go on to say that, if such a wall listed the names of the
30 million babies who have been legally killed by abortion in the United
States, it would be fifty miles long!
And a wall that commemorated the one billion preborns wiped
out by abortion worldwide in the last 25 years would stretch 1,606 miles
long enough to reach from Kansas City to Boston.
AIDS Quilts.
AIDS activists have recently been making big media splashes with
their 'AIDS quilts' that commemorate friends and relatives that have
died of the disease. In some cases, hundreds of these 3 foot by 6 foot
quilts have been laid next to each other and have covered an area the
size of a football field. In one widely-publicized event, several
thousand quilts covered a large area of the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.
Imagine the size of the quilt collection if each of the 30 million
babies our country has aborted had one made for him or her! These quilts
would not only cover a single football field, they would cover every
one of the more than 17,000 professional, college, and high school
football fields in the entire country.
And every week we add enough quilts for unborn babies who are
killed by abortion to cover every National Football League stadium in
the country.
If all of the quilts were gathered in one place and attached to each
other, they would weigh more than 60,000 tons and would cover an area of
more than 16 square miles and would create a feature that could easily
be seen from space with the naked eye. If this quilt were to be
transported, it would have to be carried on more than 3,000 semi-trailer
flatbeds in a convoy a hundred miles long.
If a quilt was made for all of the preborn babies killed by abortion
in the world since 1967, it would be a two and a half million ton
monstrosity that would cover a land area of 645 square miles. Every
square foot of this enormous area would be stitched with pictures of
babies, children, and adults that never were; the contributions they all
made to society, some of which would change the world; and details about
their loves, lives, and personalities.
Joining Hands.
If the 30 million babies aborted in the United States had been
allowed their births and had grown up, then if they had got together to
hold hands, the resulting line would stretch around the world at the
Equator more than 30,000 miles!
The Dead States.
Our country has killed a vast number of children equivalent to the
combined populations of 14 states: Montana, Wyoming, North and South
Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Utah,
Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. It is riveting to display a map of the
United States with all of these States blacked out. This gives an
audience some idea of the colossal magnitude of the abortion disaster.
Accidents and Abortions.
Americans kill more children every year than the number of all people
who die of all cancers and heart and lung diseases. More
than 100,000 Americans are killed in all accidents every year but we deliberately
kill fifteen times that many children every year in our abortuaries.
Speaking of accidents, a community would mourn for months if a school
bus packed with 50 children crashed and burned, killing everyone inside.
But every hour the abortion mills in this country are operating (say 60
hours per week), it is equivalent, in terms of lives lost, to having a
school bus full of children crash every six minutes! A pro-life debater
might also want to tailor this image to apply to a particular local
abortuary.
The Twilight Zones.
The number of women who obtain abortions every year in this country
would fill to capacity every seat in every National Football League
(NFL) stadium in the country simultaneously. By contrast, the number of
women who get abortions for rape or incest would be able to stand in one
end zone with plenty of room to spare! Additionally, the number of women
who obtain abortions to save their own lives would only fill the bench
on one side of the field.
The "Marching Aborted."
Population alarmists sometimes refer to "the marching
Chinese," by which they mean that the population of the People's
Republic of China is increasing so fast (20 million per year) that the
Chinese could march three abreast past a single point and never have the
same person pass twice.
This concept could be adapted to illustrate a parallel concept:
"The marching aborted." There are about 55 million abortions
committed all over the world annually. If these children marched past
one point continuously, they would be five abreast.
For Computer Geeks Only.
Introduction.
The amount of information in any single cell of the human body is
prodigious. Therefore, it is very useful to describe this kind of
information to an audience or person that is technically-oriented,
because abortion might be seen as a type of 'information wastage.'
If a person attempts to describe the volume of data contained in an
early preborn human being in terms of 'megabytes' or 'gigabytes' he is
usually met by an uncomprehending stare, even from those who understand
the dimensions of such words.
Therefore, it is very revealing to compare the amount of information
in a single human cell to that found in a standard that virtually
everyone is familiar with: The Encyclopedia Britannica. Anyone
who owns the current set of the Encyclopedia has at his
fingertips about 30,500 pages and 27.5 million words of information in
33 bound volumes. This is an amount of information equivalent to about
300 megabytes.
If a person set about reading this set of books at a standard speed
of 300 words per minute for a regular 40-hour week, it would take eight
months to complete the task.
The following paragraphs compare the amount of information found in
the human cell and the developing preborn to that in the Encyclopedia
Britannica and other measures of the written word.
The Fertilized Egg.
According to medical and genetic textbooks, the DNA (deoxyriboNucleic
acid) in a single fertilized human egg carries as much data as 50 sets
of the 33-volume Encyclopedia Britannica.[10]
These fifty sets are equivalent to 1,373,625,000 words which, if
typewritten end to end would stretch for 14,453 miles, more than halfway
around the world.
For those with an affinity for computers, this is equivalent to about
15,000 megabytes of data. This information would fill 41,700 5-1/4 inch
(360 kilobyte) floppy disks, or would make a stack of such disks 280
feet high, about as tall as a thirty-story skyscraper.
If a person read this mountain of information at 300 words a minute
for a standard 40-hour week, he could begin on graduation day from
college and not finish until retirement at age 58 a total of 37 years!
And all of this data is packed into a two-celled organism barely
visible to the unaided human eye.
The Blastocyst.
After conception in the Fallopian tubes, the new human being travels
slowly down the tube towards the uterus. Its development has already
begun. In fact, by the time the blastocyst has implanted in the uterus,
it has undergone eight cell divisions of the 45 required to achieve full
adulthood at age 18.
The blastocyst, which consists of about 256 cells, contains as much
information as the main library in a large American city. This library
would contain more than 3 million volumes with a total of about 350
billion words.
If these books were stacked, they would make a pile fifty miles high.
If this information were typewritten in a single line, the line would
extend 3.7 million miles, or from here to the moon and back eight times.
For computer freaks, this is 3,840,000 megabytes of information, or
3.84 terabytes.
The Individual at Eight Weeks.
By the time the unborn child is eight weeks old, he weighs 1/30 of an
ounce, and is comprised of about one billion cells. He has already
undergone 35 of the 45 required cell divisions to achieve adulthood.
The amount of information contained in this baby's body is almost
incomprehensible. It is equivalent to 1.4 billion billion words, or a
typewritten line 15,467 billion miles long, enough to reach four
light years to Proximus Centauri, the star closest to our Sun. It is
equal to 15 million terabytes, or 15 million million megabytes.
How great is this amount of information?
It is equal to every word spoken by every one of the more than 100
billion human beings who have walked this earth since the time of Adam
and Eve; PLUS every written word in every copy of every book, newspaper,
magazine, periodical, newsletter, love letter, and communication of
every description that has ever existed on this earth.
And yet this unspeakably miraculous body is torn apart 200,000 times
a day, all over the world, and is flushed into sewers all over the
planet as garbage by abortionists and mothers who could not care less
about God or the miracles He creates.
Useful Figures.
The three volumes of The Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia
contain more than 150 figures dealing with abortion statistics. These
will help a pro-life debater formulate 'word pictures' on the various
aspects of abortion. They may also serve as the basis of slides or
transparencies that may be used effectively in a debate or presentation.
Some of the illustrative figures in the Encyclopedia are in
the chapters listed below. A complete listing of all figures is
contained in Appendix E of Volume III.
CHAPTERS USEFUL FOR DRAWING "WORD PICTURES" DURING
DEBATES AND PRESENTATIONS
Chapter 41, "Child Abuse and
Abortion:" The rising tide of child abuse in the United States.
Chapter 48, "Demographic Effects of
Abortion:" The effect of legalized abortion on United States
population age distribution.
Chapter 51, "Health Exceptions:"
How rare health-indicated abortions really are.
Chapter 57, "International
Situation:" Annual world legal abortions, 1967-1988.
Chapter 59, "Maternal Deaths and
Abortion:" Annual maternal deaths caused by abortion in the United
States, 1972-1984.
Chapter 60, "Medicaid Funding of
Abortion:" Abortion statistics by state and the effects of abortion
funding.
Chapter 78, "Racism of Abortion:"
United States legal abortion ratios by race, and the racial distribution
of the United States population, 1880-2090.
Chapter 79, "Rape and Incest
Exceptions:" Pregnancies and abortions caused by rape.
Chapter 88, "Suicide By Teenagers:"
Annual suicides among teenagers and young adults in the United States,
1960-1988.
Chapter 99 of Volume III, "Contraceptive
Use and Effectiveness:" Estimated number of annual contraceptive
failures in the United States.
Chapter 123 of Volume III, "Just War
Theory:" Costs of United States wars in terms of dollars and human
lives, including the war on the unborn.
Reference: United States Abortion Statistics.
[1] Looseleaf booklet entitled "Organizing for Action."
Prepared by Vicki Z. Kaplan for the National Abortion Rights Action
League, 250 West 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019. 51 pages, no date.
Pages 30 and 31, "Introduction to Debating."
[2] Ruth Barnett. They Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton, Oregon:
Halo Publishers, 1969, page 49.
[3] "Let's Tell the Truth About Abortion." Pamphlet
distributed by Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood. 1985, 22 pages. Fight
Back Press, Post Office Box 61421, Denver, Colorado 80206. Page 7.
[4] Minnesota abortionist Jane Hodgeson, quoted in Human Life
International Special Report no. 83, August 1991, pages 6 and 7.
[5] Peter Steinfels. "New Voice, Same Words on Abortion." The
New York Times, November 20, 1990, page A10.
[6] Quoted from the May 22, 1985 Congressional Record and
quoted in "Wimps of the Week," The Review of the NEWS,
July 3, 1985, pages 55 and 56.
[7] In re Unborn Baby H., No. 84C01 8804JP185, slip opinion at
1-2 (Vigo County, Indiana Circuit Court, April 8, 1988). Also see
"Woman Defies Court, Father, Aborts Child." Washington
Times, April 15, 1988.
[8] "Pregnancy Ploy Draws Criticism." The Spokane,
Washington Spokesman-Review. May 23, 1988, page C2. Also see
"No Moral Compass." Our Sunday Visitor, June 5, 1988,
and "Women Athletes Using Pregnancy to Gain Strength." San
Francisco Examiner, May 23, 1988.
[9] Anne Nicol Gaylor. Abortion is a Blessing. New York, New
York: Psychological Dimensions, Inc. 1975, 124 pages. Page 88.
[10] Dennis J. Horan. Villanova Law Review, February 1977. The
total amount of information communicated since Adam and Eve were created
has been transmitted in the form of about 12 billion hardback and
softback volumes averaging 180 pages and 55,000 words apiece; 500
billion newspapers, magazines, periodicals and newsletters of every
description, each averaging 45 pages and 25,000 words; and 100 billion
people having spoken an average of 7,500 words per day for an average
45-year lifespan.
Further Reading: United States Abortion Statistics.
Alan Guttmacher Institute. Pregnancy, Contraception &
Family Planning Services in Industrialized Countries.
Authors: Elise F. Jones, Jacqueline Darroch Forrest, Stanley K.
Henshaw, Jane Silverman, and Aida Torres. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale
University Press. 1989, 273 pages. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the
research arm of Planned Parenthood, examines statistics and culture in
four countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the
Netherlands) in an effort to find out why unplanned pregnancy and
abortion rates are so variable among societies that have so many
similarities.
United States Bureau of Commerce, Department of the Census.
National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the
United States.
1990, 110th edition, 956 pages, softback, hardback. May be ordered
from any Department of Commerce district office or from the
Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402, telephone: (202) 783-3238. This book has
absolutely every statistic you could possibly want to know about United
States citizens. A very enjoyable book just to browse through. An
absolute must for stat rats and info-maniacs.
Nancy Michels. Helping Women Recover From Abortion.
Bethany House Publishers, 6820 Auto Club Road, Minneapolis,
Minnesota 55438. 1988, 192 pages. This excellent book is packed with
references and statistics and quotes from studies that deal with why
women have abortions, the impacts of abortion, and how abortion stresses
can be healed. One chapter deals with the impacts of abortion on
siblings and fathers.
Emily Campbell Moore-Cavar. International Inventory of
Information on Induced Abortion.
International Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction,
Columbia University, 1974. 656 pages. An outdated, but still interesting
work of more than 800 pages on the early history of abortion in North
America and Europe. Also contains more than two hundred pages on public
attitudes toward abortion.
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist’s Encyclopedia published
by American Life League.
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