Category: Articles

Student decides not to have abortion after seeing pictures of unborn babies

Abortions in America have been declining for years. Could one of the reasons be that pictures of unborn babies in different stages of development are now readily available online, and more people know what an unborn baby looks like?

In an article in the UD Flyer, college student Linda Lanphere describes what led her to have her son instead of having an abortion:

“[Linda] Lanphere, a senior psychology major, is a UD success story. She said she was shocked last March after finding out she was pregnant.  After a month of wrestling over whether to keep her baby, give it up for adoption, or abort, she said pictures of the developing fetus presented in her Christian Marriage class finally convinced her to keep her baby. 

“I had an appointment made for an abortion,” Lanphere said. “At the time that he was in my womb, he would have been sucking his thumb, so I couldn’t go through with it.”

Sara Moore “Unexpected Responsibilities Change College Life” Flyer News April 7, 1992

unborn baby at only 7 weeks after conception
Share on Facebook

Feminists originally opposed abortion, men wanted it legal

John Noonan, in his book A Private Choice:

“When strong and comprehensive antiabortion statutes were being enacted in 19th America, the militant feminists had been outspoken in their scorn and condemnation of abortion…”

Who wanted the liberty of abortion in 1970? Only a minority of any section of the population favored it, but the stablest and strongest supporters of the liberty were white upper-class males.”

John Noonan a private choice: Abortion in America in the 70s (New York: Free Press, 1979) 48 – 49

Quoted in Faye D Ginsburg Contested Lives: the Abortion Debate in an American Community (Berkeley and Los Angeles California: University of California Press, 1989) 10

The majority of the people involved in making abortion legal in the 1970s were men. The founders of NARAL, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America and formerly the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, which was responsible for legalizing abortion in New York prior to Roe versus Wade, were both men. Every member of the supreme court that decided Roe versus Wade was a man. It is often men who benefit from abortion. They can impregnate a woman without worrying about being responsible for the baby that could result. It makes them free to sexually use women. Women have to bear the brunt of the physical and emotional consequences of abortion.  This is why nearly all of the early feminists opposed abortion as the exploitation of women.

 

Share on Facebook

2006 Poll: High School Seniors Favor Gay Rights, Restrictions on Abortion

“A national survey of high school seniors reported that many of them have a strong moral opposition to abortion and favor restrictions on “a woman’s right to choose” an abortion. An analysis of the survey said that when they answered general questions about abortion, seniors “appeared supportive of abortion rights,” but responses to more detailed questions on circumstances in which it should be allowed showed “most seniors regard abortion as morally wrong” and that they “would significantly limit” when a woman could have an abortion. The survey also showed that almost 75 percent of the respondents supported legal recognition for gay couples, with 54 percent of the respondents supporting gay marriage and 20 percent favoring gay civil unions. The survey of 1,000 public and private school seniors was conducted by Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and the polling firm of Zogby International.”

High school seniors favor curbs on abortion. (2006, Jan 30). America, 194, 6-6.

While support for gay rights and gay marriage is (happily) rising among the youngest members of society, support for abortion is, in fact, going down. Will we have a more pro-life and gay friendly society?

Share on Facebook

Catholics are 29% More likely to have abortions than Protestants

One study showed that many women having abortions are Christians. Here are the statistics:

In the group studied, about 37 percent of those who got abortions are Protestant and 31 percent are Catholic. Among all American women of childbearing age, about 54 percent are Protestant and 31 percent Catholic.

To estimate the relative likelihood that women in those groups will obtain an abortion, researchers Stanley K. Henshaw and Kathryn Kost factored out race, ethnicity and age and found that the women who identified themselves as Catholic were 29 percent more likely than Protestants to have an abortion.

Barbara Vobejda “Abortion Reaches Wide Cross Section of Women; Study of U.S. Patients Seeking Procedure Finds Many Belong to Religious Groups That Oppose It” The Washington Post August 8, 1996

It is unknown why so many Catholics disobey their church and have abortions. Perhaps the churches, both Catholic and Protestant, need to have better outreaches for pregnant women in the congregations

From an abortion at 9 weeks
Share on Facebook

Young woman grateful for the help she got at a pregnancy center

Pro-choice activists paint crisis pregnancy centers as villains who manipulate women and terrorize them with lies about abortion in order to coerce them to have their children. In reality, many women are grateful for the help they get from the centers. Here is one letter to a crisis pregnancy center from a woman who came to them.

A letter received by a peer counselor at a CareNet Center:

Carol,hello! I want to thank you for your kindness and your help yesterday when I came to your center.  I was not completely honest with you.  My girlfriend and I came to you for a free pregnancy test.  I had already taken a home pregnancy test that was positive and made an appointment for an abortion but thought why not go in, maybe your test would be negative.  I was pretty set in my decision.  Anyway, I was so encouraged and you were so supportive.  You made feel that I wasn’t a bad person, that life goes on and mine wasn’t over

You gave me the courage to confront my mom, who to my surprise was incredibly understanding and supportive.  She was so happy and thankful I could come to her this early.  She gave me the courage to confront my dad who didn’t shower me with anger, but with love.  They both promised to support me through thick and thin, and we all decided I’m going to have this baby, either to parent or adopt.  I am not going to abort.

I am so happy right now.  If it weren’t for you I would’ve taken the easy way out, not told anyone and had the abortion.  I cannot thank you enough for everything!  Thank you!!

Dawn

Dawn named her daughter Koralyn

From CareNet newsletter CommuniCare September 1995,

Share on Facebook

Abortion rates skyrocketed after legalization

One researcher describes how the abortion rate went up after legalization. This shows that when abortion is legal, many more women take advantage of it.

“ The abortion rate rose from 5 abortions per thousand women in 1970 to 25 per thousand in 1980.”

Mei Ling Rein. Abortion: an Internal Social and Moral Issue (Wylie, Texas: Information Plus Reference Series, 2000)38

This is a 500% increase.

Share on Facebook

30 to 60% of aborting women initially wanted to keep their babies

“Between 30 and 60% of women having abortions initially had a positive desire to carry the pregnancy to term and keep their babies.”

Mary K Zimmerman, Passage through Abortion: the Personal and Social Reality of Women’s Experience (New York: Praeger publishers, 1977) 110 – 111

This is an old reference, but newer studies have shown similar results. Often, it is the response of the father of the child that determines the baby’s fate

Share on Facebook

Chinese women talk about China’s One Child policy

In China, women are pressured, and in some cases forced, to abort if they already have one child. Abortion is extremely common and widely accepted. Here are 2 quotes from Chinese women about abortion:

“It’s a rather common occurrence, [like eating] an ordinary kind of food. There’s nothing worth talking about.”

And

It’s a very natural thing, like eating and drinking. It’s not against the law. And it’s quite safe to have [an abortion.”]

Few talk about the one child policy partly due to the fact that you can’t legally criticize the government in China and their one child policy. However, the results of the survey in 1997 done by Nie Jing-Bao gathered the following quotes:

“People have no choice [if they already have a child]; but most women want the babies.”

“Because people want more than one child, the government forces them to have abortions.”

“The family planning program forces people to have abortions. Some are voluntary, but most people have to [have an abortion]. Rural people hope to have more children. Most people in cities accept the family planning policy. Although some want to have more children, they may lose their job if they actually do so.”

In a study, 18 overseas students and scholars who had either just arrived in the United States or who had left China several years before were asked to list the reasons why women had abortions in China.

The number one response was “the requirements of the national family planning policy.”

Nie Jing-Bao Beyond the Silence: Chinese Voices on Abortion (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005) 98-100

Share on Facebook

Postabortion women 6 times more likely to oppose abortion

In 1981 Planned Parenthood researcher Donald Granberg did a study calculating the number of women who had abortions were involved in right to life and pro-choice groups.

He found that 3% of National Right to Life women and 32% of NARAL women had abortions – however, NARAL had a membership of 156,000 and National Right to Life had a membership of 12 million. When counting the female members, NARAL had a population of 39,000 aborters and national right to life had a population of 245,000 aborters. Therefore, women who had abortions were, according to this study, six times more likely to work against abortion, then for it.

While this information is dated, it makes you wonder about how many women had abortions and now regret them and feel that abortion is not the best choice for other women. This says something about the experiences that women have with abortion in America.

Donald Granberg, “The Abortion Activists” Family Planning Perspectives July – August 1981,161

Share on Facebook

Only 10% of legal abortion deaths are reported, says researcher

Often, legal abortion deaths are not reported.

“On one occasion, for example, Dr. Lester Hippard, chairman of the Los Angeles County Medical Society Committee, which is charged with keeping track of maternal deaths, told the newspaper reported that there had only been for abortion related deaths officially reported as such. But, Dr. Hippard added, he personally knew of at least four other deaths which it followed legal abortions, but had not been reported as such on the death certificates. Furthermore, he said he was certain that these unreported abortion deaths were only the tip of the iceberg.”

According to one estimate less than 10% of deaths from legal abortion are reported as such.

David C Reardon Aborted Women: Silent No More (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway books, 1987) 110

Share on Facebook