Category: Results of Studies

The authors of a study on teen pregnancy and the abortion decision found that:

“The knowledge that as a teenage mother they would not be on their own and still considered as a part of their family was crucial to many young women in their decision to continue [with the pregnancy].”

They quoted a teenage girl named Leone who decided against abortion. She said:

“If my mum and dad said they wouldn’t support me I think that would have changed my mind, because I wouldn’t have been able to afford to look after her.”

Sharon Tabberer, Christine Hall, Shirley Prendergast, and Andrew Webster Teenage Pregnancy and Choice: Abortion or Motherhood: Influences on the Decision (York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000) 24

This is an older study, but I think it’s still relevant.

As quoted in the book Abortion Debate in the United States and Canada:

“It is predicted that if those who hold mixed stands about abortion are excluded, the remaining consistent supporters and opponents of abortion should show equal strength of feelings with regard to their respective positions.

Findings do not support this prediction: opponents of abortion are far more likely than proponents to regard the abortion issue as important. This finding holds true when religious affiliation is controlled.”

Maureen Muldoon Abortion Debate in the United States and Canada (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991) 33

Cites: Jacqueline Scott and Howard Shuman “Attitude Strength and Social Action in the Abortion Dispute” American Sociological Review 53, 5, October 1988, 785 – 793

Pro-Lifers are more passionate about their beliefs.

A study interviewed women who went into abortion facilities while pro-lifers were sidewalk counseling or protesting outside.

60% of women going into clinics for abortions weren’t upset by pro-life sidewalk counselors and protesters, the study found. The study was done in 2011 by pro-choice researchers.

This disproves the common pro-abortion claim that pro-lifers outside of abortion facilities traumatize women with their offers of help.

The study is:

D Foster et al. “Effects of Clinic Protesters on Women’s Emotional Response to Abortion” Contraception 84 (September 2011): 303

It was cited in Jeannie Ludlow “Love and Goodness: Toward a New Abortion Politics” Feminist Studies Vol. 38, No. 2 (Summer 2012), pp. 474-483

A study of women in a post-abortion support group at the Medical College of Ohio found that only 7 of the 66 women who had abortions while single eventually married the father.

Kathleen and Franco, Marijo B Tamburrino and Nancy B Campbell “Psychological Profile of Dysphoric Women Postabortion” Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 44 (113), 1989, 113 – 150

Cited in Thomas W Strahan “Abortion and the Feminization of Poverty” Rachael MacNair and Stephen Zunes, eds. Consistently Opposing Killing (Bloomington, Indiana: Author’s Choice Press, 2008, 2011)

From an article in National Right to Life news:

“The results of a massive study of nearly 5,000 extremely premature babies published last Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the survival rate of babies born at 22 and 23 weeks increased substantially if hospitals actively treat the babies.

NEJM study shows nearly a quarter of babies born at 22 weeks survive if actively treated; 33% for babies born at 23 weeks….

Two of the study leaders– Dr. Edward Bell of the University of Iowa and University of Iowa medical student Matthew Rysavy–talked to various publications to explain what their findings represented.

Dr. Bell told the New York Times’ Pam Belluck that at Iowa, treatment is offered to most 22-week-olds, and he considers 22 weeks a new marker of viability.

“That’s what we think, but this is a pretty controversial area,” Dr. Bell said. “I guess we would say that these babies deserve a chance.”

Dave Andrusko “NEJM study shows nearly a quarter of babies born at 22 weeks survive if aggressively treated; 33% for babies born at 23 weeks” National Right to Life May 7, 2015