Every day we are inundated with news concerning the unborn (and even partially born). Are they human? Do they have a right to life? As these questions surface again and again, activists from both sides of the argument come out in full force. Many notable politicians and public officials have come forth with their own opinions regarding the matter- and unfortunately, often their opinions promote abortion. Their words ring hollow and absurd. Promoting abortion does not lead to the promotion of women; abortion is a destructive procedure, both physically and emotionally, and women live with the negative consequences long after the day of the procedure.
Pro-choice activists choose to disregard science’s declaration that human life begins at conception, and that we as humans also have a moral obligation to defend the defenseless among us. Activists that fight for unrestricted abortion are not fighting for the good of women or sense of morality. Instead, by having people live according their own truth, they are encouraging this destructive force of evil to run rampant in the world.
A glaring example of this is United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore recently calling US pro-life laws torture in an article in The Guardian, US edition. More specifically, she said, in reference to the new bans, “We have not called it out in the same way we have other forms of extremist hate, but this is gender-based violence against women, no question.” This statement is not only confusing but contradictory. By campaigning for life, violence against both male and female unborn babies is being actively reduced, as is evident in states like Ohio, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. The availability of unrestricted abortion means the increase of violence against unborn babies and their mothers. Also, this contradicts the popular idea that has been championed by the UN in that past- that gender is a social construct and that men (or others) can give birth. Beyond that, to believe that abortion only effects women is to ignore the men who have been devastated by lost fatherhood. The true violence is abortion- and it is not discriminatory against who it will hurt.
Gilmore also told pro-life activists, “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.”
So, let’s look at the facts. Science clearly shows that at conception a new life, unique from the mother and father, is created, and that the purpose of abortion is to end that life. Those are both facts that abortion advocates conveniently ignore. Gilmore also claims that restricting abortion forces women into unsafe procedures that put them at a higher risk for life-threatening complications, which she cites from the Guttmacher Institute. A closer look at the Guttmacher Institute reveals that they have no statistics to back up this claim, only broad language: “Abortion tends to be safer where it is broadly legal than in more legally restrictive settings.”
It is also important to note that data about unsafe and restricted abortions is primarily taken from developing regions versus developed regions, like the US. In developing regions, it is estimated that 220 out of 100,000 women die from unsafe abortions. In developed regions 30 of 100,000 women die from unsafe abortions, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO cites the wealth of nations (or lack thereof) and inability to follow the WHO safety guidelines as the primary reason that these abortions are deemed unsafe, not that they are illegal. Additionally, in the US, states are not mandated to report abortion procedures or medical complications resulting from them, and so it is difficult to get an accurate number of how many abortions are preformed and how many complications result from them. These are the facts- abortion is an elective procedure performed to kill an unborn human, and it is dangerous. The mother is at risk of suffering from medical complications or even death, beyond putting the babies’ lives in peril. In fact, New York City’s Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood has sent seven women to the hospital in sixteen weeks due to complications resulting from their abortions.
A final note on this issue is directed at The Guardian. They ran this story on Kate Gilmore and her comments about the US’s pro-life laws and followed up their article with a lengthy request to preserve progressive ideals in America by donating to their publication. They say that for the first time, Roe v. Wade may be overturned, but they are committed to women and the right to choose. In the same request, they refer to themselves as an “independent reporting agency” with “factual, honest reporting” when this is clearly not the case. They are not reporting unbiased facts, but opinionated pieces designed to push a personal agenda and raise money.
By: Amy Nardozzi, intern with Anglicans for Life
