Monday, February 28, 2011

Abortion History Myths

Like me, I'm sure you've heard all the horror stories of back-alley coat-hanger abortions.  Apparently those are more scare-tactics than fact.

For instance:

3. Criminal abortions were not, by and large, the deplorable and filthy quacks so popularly presented in abortion advocacy lore. As Planned Parenthood's Mary Calderone pointed out in 1960, "Call them what you will, abortionists or anything else, they are still physicians, trained as such; and many of them are in good standing in their communities. They must do a pretty good job if the death rate is as low as it is." And just one year earlier, in 1959, Planned Parenthood's Alan Guttmacher said, "They have to be good to stay in business, since otherwise they would be extremely vulnerable to police action."

More here.

2 comments:

i cant decide said...

Oh, very interesting. We hear the back alley abortion stories every time the topic is brought up!

MamaJ said...

I find the comment "They must do a pretty good job if the death rate is as low as it is," very disturbing! *shudder* Because obviously, the death rate for the babies is quite high...