The following news release was issued on Apr. 14, 2010.
A new study, published by the British medical journal The Lancet and reported on in the New York Times, shows a dramatic decline in maternal deaths worldwide. The Lancet reports 526,300 maternal deaths worldwide in 1980 and 342,900 deaths in 2008, a reduction of 35 percent. A total of 60,000 of the 2008 deaths were pregnant women in eastern Africa who died from AIDS.
"This new study is further proof that it is clean water, clean blood and adequate access to health care — not abortion on demand — that will help pregnant women and their babies globally," stated Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of MCCL Global Outreach (MCCL GO).
The New York Times article quotes Dr. Richard Horton, who states that he received pressure from maternal mortality advocacy groups not to release the new findings.
"For years the advocates of abortion have used the maternal mortality issue to overthrow pro-life laws in country after country," Fischbach continued. "Without the maternal mortality argument, another gaping hole exists in their push for abortion on demand."
The solution to illegal abortions and high maternal mortality rates is very simple: provide hope, opportunity and support for pregnant women by ensuring a clean water supply, clean blood supply and adequate health care. Statistics confirm that these save women’s lives — not the legalization of abortion.
Ireland, a country with pro-life laws in place, has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world, and Nepal, a country with abortion on demand, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates at 830 deaths per 100,000 live births. According to the new study, maternal mortality increased in the United States by 42 percent from 1980 to 2008. Abortion was legal in the U.S. throughout all nine months of pregnancy during this 28-year period.
This new report comes from the University of Washington and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and was paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
MCCL GO is a pro-life global outreach program of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Education Fund with one goal: to save as many innocent lives as possible from the destruction of abortion. Learn more at www.mccl.org.
