A report released yesterday by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute finds that "unsafe abortion causes an estimated 70,000 deaths each year," and recommends "[e]xpand[ing] access to legal abortion and ensur[ing] that safe and legal abortion services are available to women in need. "
Guttmacher president Sharon Camp says, "Legal restrictions do not stop abortion from happening, they just make the procedure dangerous. Too many women are maimed or killed each year because they lack legal abortion access."
So the law has no effect on the incidence of abortion? Here's what the Guttmacher Institute's own Stanley Henshaw has said: "In most countries, it is common after abortion is legalized for abortion rates to rise sharply for several years, then stabilize, just as we have seen in the United States."
Moreover, as a report from MCCL Global Outreach shows, poor medical care, not the prohibition of abortion, leads to high maternal mortality rates. And when abortion is legalized in an environment that lacks good maternal care, more women suffer and die as a result of abortion.
"The Guttmacher Institute refuses to address the greatest need of pregnant women: good medical care. This is the most important factor in reducing maternal mortality," says MCCL GO Executive Director Scott Fischbach.
"Even though Guttmacher admits that its abortion numbers in the developing world are based on conjecture and are therefore unreliable, it continues to stridently argue that the legalization of abortion is the answer to the problems facing poor women.
"Pregnant women need access to doctors, hospitals, medications, nutritional care, safe childbirth and other medical care in order to reduce the risks of pregnancy and childbirth. The legalization of abortion does nothing to improve women's health or welfare."
See "Does legalizing abortion protect women's health? Assessing the argument for expanded abortion access around the globe" from MCCL GO.
