World Population Awareness

Does Human Personhood Begin at Conception?

by Peter Kreeft

The personhood of the fetus is clearly the crucial issue for abortion, for if the fetus is not a person, abortion is not the deliberate killing of an innocent person: if it is, it is. All other aspects of the abortion controversy are relative to this one; e.g., women have rights - over their own bodies but not over other persons' bodies. The law must respect a "right to privacy" but killing other persons is not a private but a public deed. Persons have a "right to life" but non-persons (e.g., cells, tissues, organs, and animals) do not.

Pro-choicers make a triple distinction among a human life, a human being and a human person. Each cell in our bodies has human life, and a single cell kept alive in a laboratory could be called "a human life" but certainly not "a human being" or "a human person." "A human being" is a biologically whole individual of the species. Even a human being born with no brain is a human being, not an ape; but it is not a person because it has no brain and cannot do anything distinctively human: think, know, choose, love, feel, desire, commit, relate, aspire, know itself, know God, know its past, know its future, know its environment, or communicate - all of which have, in various combinations, been offered as the marks of a person. The pro-life position seems to confuse the sanctity of the person with the sanctity of life, which is two steps removed from it.

Pro-choicers say the very young product of conception, the zygote, has no ability to perform any of the distinctive activities that anyone associates with personhood (reasoning, choosing, loving, communicating, etc.) - not even feeling pain, for the zygote has no brain or nervous system. At first it is only a single cell. How could anyone call a single cell a person?

Pro-choicers claim that personhood begins not at at conception, but develops gradually, as a matter of degree. Every one of the characteristics we use to identify personhood arises and grows gradually rather than suddenly. The fetus is potentially a person, but it must grow into an actual person.

Pro-choicers will say that personhood is not a clear concept. There is not universal agreement on it. Different philosophers, scientists, religionists, moralists, mothers, and observers define it differently. It is a matter of opinion where the dividing line between persons and non-persons should be located. But what is a matter of opinion should not be decided or enforced by law. Law should express social consensus, and there is no consensus in our society about personhood's beginning or, consequently, about abortion. One opinion should not be forced on all. Pro-choice is not pro-abortion but, precisely, pro-choice.

Thus there are four and only four possibilities: that it is not a person and we know that, that it is a person and we know that, that it is a person but we do not know that, and that it is not a person and we do not know that. Now what is abortion in each of these four cases? In case (1), abortion is perfectly permissible. We do no wrong if we kill what is not a person and we know it is not a person-e.g., if we fry a fish. But no one has ever proved with certainty that a fetus is not a person. If there exists anywhere such a proof, please show it to me and I shall convert to pro-choice on the spot if I cannot refute it.

Why Abortion is Biblical - From a Christian View

By Brian Elroy McKinley

How anti-abortion activists misrepresent the biblical record

People don't take time to read their own Bibles.This website talks about the few biblical verses that anti-abortionists cite to demonstrate that abortion is murder. But there are others that would seem to make the case for abortion.

This is one of the verses commonly cited to support the stance the abortion is murder: "For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for Thou art fearfully wonderful (later texts were changed to read "for I am fearfully and wonderfully made"); wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." Psalm 139:13-16

But the Bible also says this:

"And if men struggle and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." Exodus 21:22-25

In Leviticus 27:6 a monetary value was placed on children, but not until they reached one month old (any younger had no value). Likewise, in Numbers 3:15 a census was commanded, but the Jews were told only to count those one month old and above - anything less, particularly a fetus, was not counted as a human person. In Ezekiel 37:8-10 we watch as God re-animates dead bones into living soldiers, but the passage makes the interesting note that they were not alive as persons until their first breath. Likewise, in Genesis 2:7, Adam had a human form and a vibrant new body but he only becomes a fully-alive human person after God makes him breathe.

Making a judgment against people in God's name, when God is not behind the judging, is nothing short of claiming that our own beliefs are more important than God's.

Follow the link in the headline for more articles on abortion, from a Christian standpoint.

Alan Guttmacher Webpage on Abortion

U.S.: The Battle Over Abortion

Since Roe vs. Wade turned 30, the battle over abortion has intensified. Anti-abortion advocates are working to chip away at the landmark ruling that affirmed a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion supporters are rallying to keep the issue in the public consciousness. In the wake of the Alito nomination, interest groups on both sides revved up their public relations machines. On a state and national level, the status of abortion has seesawed. In the last several years, here are the more relevant events concerning abortion:

U.S.;: Defying Stereotypes on Abortion

The profile on the average woman who seeks abortion, drawn from abortion statistics collected by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, contradicts a lot of assumptions out there about the woman who seeks an abortion. She is a mom, in her 20s, she's attended college, earns a manageable living and is either living with the father or in a long-term relationship with him and has a child. She is not someone's careless teenage daughter.

It is surprising that a woman who has given birth would find herself back in this position.

It is educated women in their 20s who are having most abortions.

And while abortion rates have been decreasing for all women there have been only small declines in the rates for women in their 20s.

There were 1.3 million abortions in 2000, one abortion for every three births.

But 70% were to women in their 20s and early 30s. 80% were to unmarried women, but only 25% to women living in poverty.

She is almost as likely to be white 4% as she is to be a member of a minority.

60% of abortions are to women who have one child.

Though they make the decision not to give birth to another child they don't take the necessary steps to prevent pregnancy.

The idea that abortion is driven by a careless approach to life is not necessarily true. Many of these women believe that this is the responsible choice. rw

Abortion in the United States - Video

Guttmacher abortion video. One out of every three American women will have and abortion by age 45.

U.K.: 22,000 Young Women Have a Repeat Abortion

Over 22,000 women in England and Wales are having two or more abortions by the age of 25. And one-third of all terminations (189,574 last year) are done for women who have had at least one already.

The number of abortions in England and Wales rose 8% more than in 2000, according to Department of Health figures. Increasing numbers of women (76%) are having abortions early in their pregnancy, at under 10 weeks' gestation.

A small number of women who had an abortion last year had already terminated seven pregnancies.

A spokesman for the Prolife Alliance said: "Whatever is being done in the UK in the way of sexual health education, at whatever age, it is clearly not impacting significantly on unplanned pregnancies."

A spokesperson for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said: "Numbers have remained stable despite increasing investment in, and promotion of, longer-term methods of contraception. This shows how difficult it is for women to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Abortion is not a problem in itself. For many women abortion is a back-up to their contraception."

A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We welcome the continued fall in teenage pregnancies. Abortions are traumatic and stressful and should never be seen as a form of contraception. Women and men need to make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and think about contraception before having sex. There is a wide range of information and advice available from GPs and sexual health centres who can advise on the best type of contraception tailored to patients' health and lifestyle needs."

U.S.: Abortion Opponents Should Support Planned Parenthood

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the author of the bill that would end ending federal funding of Planned Parenthood said it is "morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to fund organizations that provide and promote abortions."

However, only 3% of Planned Parenthood's federal funding goes toward abortion and it's limited to pregnancy caused by rape or incest or when a woman's life is in jeopardy. About a third of its funding goes toward contraception, and the rest goes to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screening and prevention.

Federal funding of abortion - with those exceptions - was banned in 1976 by the Hyde Amendment.

Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, which operates clinics throughout Riverside, San Diego and Imperial counties, gets 60% of its funding from the federal government, funneled through the state.

"Every year, Planned Parenthood prevents nearly a million unintended pregnancies, half of which would have ended in abortion," said a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. "We do more to end the need for abortion than any other organization in the country."

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute. 40% of those pregnancies are terminated by abortion. For abortion opponents, denying funding for the leading provider of contraception makes no sense.

In a perfect world, people would abstain from having sex until they're ready to have children. That's not going to happen. The worst consequence is the tragedy of abortion.

Report: Unsafe Abortions Kill 70,000 Annually

Increased contraceptive use has led to fewer abortions worldwide, but deaths from unsafe abortion remain a severe problem, killing 70,000 women a year, according to a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute.

38,000 of the deaths - over half the total - are in sub-Saharan Africa, which also has the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of unintended pregnancies, and only 28% of married women using contraceptives.

"In almost all developed countries, abortion is safe and legal," ... "But in much of the developing world, abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities disagreed with the reports call for further easing of developing nations' abortion laws.

A key reason for the drop in abortions was that the portion of married women using contraception increased from 54% in 1990 to 63% in 2003 as availability increased and social mores changed. 2003 was the last year information was available.

Abortions worldwide are declining even as more countries liberalize their abortion laws. Since 1997, only Poland, Nicaragua and El Salvador substantially increased restrictions on abortion, while laws were eased significantly in 19 countries and regions, including Cambodia, Nepal and Mexico City.

40% of the world's women live in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, which includes 92% of the women in Africa and 97% in Latin America. Regardless of whether abortion is legal or is highly restricted, it occurs at roughly the same rate, but there is the high rate of deaths and medical complications from unsafe clandestine abortions in the restrictive countries. "Too many women are maimed or killed each year because they lack legal abortion access."

19.7 million of the 41.6 million abortions in 2003 were unsafe - either self-induced, performed by unskilled practitioners or carried out in unhygienic surroundings.

The report recommended that access to modern contraceptives and improve family planning services be expanded, that safe, legal abortion services are available to women in need, and that the coverage and quality of post-abortion care be improved, which would reduce maternal death and complications from unsafe abortion.

"The Catholic Church has informally at least stopped fighting against contraception to the degree it once did and put more of its energies into fighting abortion," Sharon Camp of the Guttmacher Institute said. "On the ground there are priests and nuns who refer people to family planning services."

A representative of the Catholic Bishops Conference said any priest or nun making such referrals was veering from church policy and that use of artificial contraception could increase a women's health risks and said they would fare better using natural family planning methods approved by the church.

"The bad news," says Susan Cohen of Guttmacher, "is that where most of the poor women live, throughout the developing world, unsafe abortion remains high, and women are dying as a result of it." ... "It's so preventable, and that's the tragedy."

U.S.: New Rules Would Threaten Right to Contraceptives

Reproductive health advocates were outraged by reports that the administration plans to require recipients of federal health programs to hire people who object to abortion and many kinds of birth control.

The report said the draft change in rules would require hospitals, clinics, researchers, medical schools and state and local governments to sign "written certifications" of non-discrimination against such applicants. The proposal would define "abortion" as "any of the various procedures that results in the termination of the life of a human being between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation." rw

US Colorado: Proposed Colorado Measure on Rights for Human Eggs

A proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution that would give legal rights to fertilized human eggs will cause a heated local debate over abortion. If passed this would give Colorado the most sweeping rights of the unborn.

The proposal must go through other steps including gathering of enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

If passed, the measure would ask voters whether inalienable rights, due process rights and equality of justice rights should be extended to "any human being from the moment of fertilization."

Naral Pro-Choice Colorado, said state courts could be swamped by suits claiming specific rights for a fertilized egg that the ballot measure did not clarify.

It lays the foundation for a potential onslaught. The language would open challenges to birth control, oral contraception and intrauterine devices, which make the uterine wall inhospitable to the developing egg.

A lawyer said the real impact would be in its asking a profound philosophical and moral question.

The whole issue centers when does life begin. Though "abortion" would not appear in the the proposal, it would effectively make an abortion illegal.

The Colorado Democratic Party thought the measure was timed to highlight divisions over abortion in Colorado. But it could play into the US Senate race, by forcing candidates to talk about the subject. rw

Abortion in the Philippines: a National Secret

Backstreet abortions may become more common as a US aid program plans to stop distributing contraceptives in the Philippines in 2008. This will leave birth control under the influence of Catholic bishops who advocate unreliable natural birth control. Most women who seek abortions are married with several children and too poor to afford another baby.

The procedure, which can involve pounding the lower abdomen to trigger a miscarriage, is called a massage.

One woman refused to let her husband take her to the hospital because of the shame of what she had done and they couldn't afford the medical bills.

Before her abortion, she had no access to artificial family planning. If she had, she says she wouldn't have become pregnant.

Under President Gloria Arroyo, a devout Catholic who relies on the support of politically powerful bishops, the government promotes natural family planning methods such as abstinence when the woman is ovulating.

Poor people rely largely on USAID, the main supplier of contraceptives in the country for the past 30 years.

But USAID has started phasing out to end the donation programme in 2008, in line with Manila's goal of self-reliance in family planning.

The government's reluctance to take up where USAID leaves off will push up the country's rate of abortions, which is twice as high as in western Europe, where terminations are legal.

The natural family planning method is a good effective option, said the executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.

Over half of women who have had an abortion in the Philippines were not using any family planning and of those that were, three-quarters were using natural methods. Both methods have high failure rates.

The population, of 89 million, is expected to swell to 142 million by 2040 and is straining the country's infrastructure and choking efforts to cut poverty.

Women who abort in the Philippines risk a prison sentence of up to six years; anyone assisting faces a similar sentence.

Only one in four women have a surgical procedure. The 4,000-15,000 peso cost is beyond the pockets of most women.

Over 30% ingest either cytotec, an anti-ulcer treatment they can buy in pharmacies, or herbal concoctions. Around 20% take hormonal drugs, or other medications and alcohol. Some starve themselves or fling themselves down stairs. Among poor women seeking abortions, over 20% get massages from hilots or insert catheters in their vaginas.

A lack of information about artificial contraception and myths about their side-effects was putting some poor people off using them.

Ignorance and rumours, sometimes spread by pro-life groups and members of the clergy, have led some Filipinos to believe that the contraceptive pill is made from placenta and the tablets cause cancer.

Abortion is rarely discussed in the Philippines, but nearly 80,000 women are treated in hospitals every year for complications from induced abortion.

At least 800 women are estimated to die every year from complications. rw

Millions of Women at Risk of Unplanned Pregnancy in Developing Nations

More than 100 million married women in developing countries have a need for contraception, and yet are not using a method of contraception. About 15% of married women and 7% of never-married women in developing countries have an unmet need for contraception; but that proportion varies by region, country and socioeconomic characteristics.

A study says that one-third of pregnancies in developing countries are unintended. Young women and married women in rural areas are most likely to have unmet need. Reasons include concerns about possible health and side effects and the belief that they are not at risk of getting pregnant. Few are unaware of family planning options. The proportion of women with unmet need is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Family planning programs have made strides in reducing unmet need and educating women about contraception, but there is a long way to go.

The study recommend making available a range of contraceptive methods, providing counseling and education and improving contraceptive technologies. Investing resources in those regions, countries and population subgroups with the highest unmet need will ensure family planning programs will reduce the unmet need for contraception and, the number of women experiencing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion. rw

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Unmet Need for Contraception and Unsafe Abortion Are Widespread

On the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a landmark ruling from the United States Supreme Court that legalized abortion and changed the course of history for women in the U.S., we remember that women in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to struggle for this basic reproductive right.

95% of abortions in Latin America are unsafe, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Where abortion is illegal, women often turn to inadequately trained practitioners who employ unsafe techniques or attempt to self-induce abortion using dangerous methods. In Latin America and the Caribbean, complications from unsafe abortion results in the hospitalization of nearly one million women each year, and causes one in eight maternal deaths, according to the WHO. Poor and rural women are disproportionately affected.

Obtaining a safe abortions is difficult if there is fear of legal consequences, social stigma, high cost, or lack of access to trained health professionals. Banning abortion does not reduce the numbers of women who attempt it; in fact, the abortion rate is much higher where it is illegal.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, only 6 of the 34 countries -- accounting for less than 5% of the region's women ages 15-44 -- allow abortion without restriction.

In 2007 the Mexico City government lifted the ban on abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. There MEXFAM (IPPF/WHR) provides safe abortion services. Where the law is more restrictive, MEXFAM works to reduce the public health impact of unsafe abortion.

Nearly half of sexually active young women in Latin America and the Caribbean have an unmet need for contraception. Providing contraception will not only reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, and the number of abortions, but also empower women by giving them the freedom to choose when and if they have children.

Countries Banning Abortion See Higher Rates of Unsafe Procedures

A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute, published in Lancet, has shown that countries restricting abortions have higher rates of unsafe abortion than those that allow abortion. Most countries in Africa or Latin America restrict abortions, with the exception of South Africa in Africa and Guyana, French Guiana, Cuba and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in Latin America.

Africa's unsafe abortion rate was 28 per 1,000 women of childbearing age and Latin America's was 31 per 1,000, compared to western Europe and North America with less than 0.5 per 1,000 unsafe abortions.

Unsafe abortion is defined by WHO as a procedure for terminating a pregnancy that is performed by an individual lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that doesn't conform to minimal standards. Gilda Sedgh, who led the study, said that restricting abortions means women have more difficulty locating practitioners and the ones they do find are less likely to be adequately trained.

Beverly Winikoff, a professor of clinical population and family health at Columbia University, said in Lancet: "The data continue to confirm what we have known for decades: that women who wish to terminate unwanted pregnancies will seek abortion at any cost, even when it is illegal or involves risks to their own lives."

Globally, unsafe abortions, almost all of which occur in developing countries, accounted for 350 times the rate associated with legal abortions in the U.S. 58 countries, with 39% of the world's population, allow abortion without restriction as to reason; 73 countries allow it to preserve health or for socioeconomic reasons, and 68 countries, with 26% of the global population, prohibit the procedure or only permit it to save a woman's life.

The country of South Africa, in 1997, was the first and only in Africa to legalize abortion, resulting in a decline of abortion-related deaths of 91% between 1994 and the average rate from 1998 -2001.

Nepal made abortion legal in 2002, before which abortion-related complications accounted for 54% of hospital-treated maternal illnesses (1998), compared with 28% in 2008-2009.

Eastern Europe has the highest rate of abortions due to higher preference for small families and because effective methods of birth control such as the pill and intra-uterine devices are not used as often. Unsafe abortion rates in the region are much lower than in other developing countries, with the exception of Poland, where abortion is restricted.

Making abortion legal is not enough to lower the unsafe abortion rate. Women need to know about the law; there needs to be health-service guidelines for abortion and providers are needed to obtain training and provide abortion services,

The Pro-choice Point of View in Poland

Poland's anti-abortion law was passed in 1993, due to pressure from the Catholic Church. In theory, the law allows abortion on medical grounds, criminal grounds and genetic grounds. But in practice you can not get an aborttion on those grounds, according to Wanda Nowicka of Poland's Federation for Women and Family Planning.

Today, some people are pushing to try to restrict this law even further. We had already 2 attempts to introduce a full ban on abortion. The first was in 2006 and now in 2011.

A full ban of abortion would include abortion in case of putting at risk of womens life - women may lose their lives. The doctor would choose saving the fetus over saving the womans life. Even now, without this provision anti-choice doctors evoke the conscience clause often. And in the case of conflict between the health of women and the life of a fetus, very often they choose the life of the fetus.

"The anti abortion law in Poland did not stop abortions. It means that women are having abortions, but they are having them in the so-called "abortion underground". It is usually provided by medical doctors which means that they are relatively safe.

The underground may be doing from even 80,000 up to 200,000 abortions per year.

With the chilling effect of this law women must continue pregnancy against their will or against their health status and with all the consequences of that… Or they choose illegal abortion even though they are entitled to have a legal abortion. Or they go to other countries for abortion. Or, a new trend is buying abortion pills by internet.

Nepal: Breaking the Taboo

In Nepal, in 1996, a Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 539 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births was reported. The number was reduced to 281 by 2006, representing a decline of 48% over a period of ten years.

In September 2010, Nepal became the recipient of a UN Award from among 49 least developed countries for the significant MMR reduction and subsequent contribution towards achieving UN Millennium Development Goal 5, which aims to improve maternal health by reducing the MMR by three quarters and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

The Nepal MMR is the outcome of coordinated efforts in executing various targeted programmes and projects by governmental and non-governmental organisations, but it also has coincided with the period when abortion was legalised in 2002, so many health sector stakeholders have linked the achievement to abortion policy reform.

According the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 19 million abortions worldwide are unsafe. And anywhere from 10%-50% of women undergoing these abortions requires medical care for severe complications later, with more than 68,000 dying each year.

Unsafe abortion predominantly exists where abortion is illegal, or where it is legal but safe services are inadequate, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

Because of the stigma attached to abortion, women and girls in rural areas prefer to use traditional remedies, which beyond being unsafe, sometimes can be fatal. Unsafe abortion causes half of the maternal deaths in Nepali hospitals even today. Statistics on abortion suggest that unsafe abortion in Nepal was widely practiced as a family planning method before its legalization.

When abortion was legalised in 2002, a woman was allowed to terminate a pregnancy of up to 12 weeks of gestation, or longer (up to 18 weeks) in the event of rape or incest, or anytime if carrying the child puts the life of the mother at risk. There were a drastically increased number of registered abortions after abortion was legalised.

Providing better and equitable access to safe abortion has become even more important considering the still high fertility rate among adolescents. About 21% of adolescent girls are already pregnant or become mothers of their first child by the time they are 15-19 years old.

Empowering rural youth by providing formal and informal education on sexual and reproductive health and family planning would be an effective strategy to enable adolescent girls to make informed decisions on timely marriage, planned pregnancies and safe motherhood.

An intervention strategy featuring additional service centers, increased awareness-raising and targeted advocacy initiatives and capacity-building of female community health volunteers will help limit not only the number of fatal cases from unsafe abortion but also reduce unplanned pregnancies.

Abortion is Safer Than Having a Baby, Doctors Say

In the draft guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for all doctors, nurses and counsellors advising women contemplating terminations, the first recommendation on "what women need to know" says: "Women should be advised that abortion is generally safer than continuing a pregnancy to term."

The guidance also says that women who are deciding whether to have an abortion must be told that most do not suffer any psychological harm. Until now, their advice has been that while rates of psychiatric illness and self-harm in women are higher among those who had an abortion, there was no evidence that termination itself was likely to trigger psychological problems.

Philippines Women's Groups Call for Legalised Abortions

More and more women would die from unsafe abortions in the Philippines, warned the country's women's groups. According to the Centre for Reproductive Rights, more than half a million Filipino women undergo illegal abortions every year. Of these, an estimated 90,000 women suffer complications with about 1,000 dying eventually.

The women's groups said it is time for the predominantly Roman Catholic country to allow for safe and legal abortion, to save thousands of women from undergoing crude and unsafe procedures. "The criminalisation of abortion has not prevented the procedure, but made it unsafe. In all cases, the ban leads to one frightening direction - that of painful risky and potentially fatal methods of pregnancy termination," Centre for Reproductive Rights Melissa Upreti said. Although abortion is illegal in the Philippines, government hospitals are mandated to provide post-abortion care treatment to women.

In the Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital for instance, more than half of the women who seek treatment are for complications arising from illegal and unsafe abortions.

Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital Dr Emmanel Ganal said most abortion cases were due to unwanted pregnancy.

"Those that are induced are usually unwanted pregnancies. It's either they don't want the pregnancy, or they have reasons like they want to go abroad so they induced it. They take some medications to remove the pregnancy," he said. For now, women's rights groups are hoping that the new Congress would be able to pass a controversial Reproductive Health bill, that the influential Catholic Church opposed last year.

That piece of legislation would uphold the use of artificial contraceptives and institutionalise sex education in schools.

That would hopefully help prevent more cases of unsafe abortion in the country. rw

Another Pill That Could Cause a Revolution

A little white pill costing less than $1 each is beginning to revolutionize abortion around the world, especially in poor countries. With this pill, thousands of women's lives could be saved each year.

Most (5/6) of abortions are performed in developing countries, where poor sterilization and training often make the procedure dangerous. As many as 70,000 women die annually from complications of abortions, according to the World Health Organization.

The pill, Misoprostol, accomplishes what is called a "medical abortion." While in the United States and Europe the medical abortion consists of two sets of "M" pills: mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486, and then a day or two later the misoprostol. This combination produces a miscarriage more than 95% of the time in early pregnancy. But mifepristone is difficult to obtain in much of the world, because it is used only to induce abortions.

Misoprostol, however, is widely available and can't easily be banned because it is also used for ulcers and can save lives of women with postpartum hemorrhages.

When women take misoprostol alone, abortion effectiveness drops to 80-85% - and that's far better and safer than other alternatives.

Medical abortion causes a miscarriage that is indistinguishable from a natural one. This not only saves lives by preventing botched abortions in countries where abortion is illegal or difficult to attain, but prevents arrest where a woman would seek help in a hospital after a botched abortion. One serious downside is that misoprostol is suspected of causing birth defects, perhaps 1% of the time, but only if it fails and the pregnancy continues to term.

In the United States, only about one-eighth of abortion are done with pills, mostly because mifepristone must be taken in a clinic. But worldwide, the number of medical abortions is surging, accounting for nearly 70% of all abortions in Scotland, according to Marie Stopes International.

In some form and strength, medical abortion seems to work "from Day 1 to the end of pregnancy," — but the effectiveness and safety of later-stage abortions still need to be worked out.

In the United States, the pills can be taken up to nine weeks' gestation. In Britain, inpatient use of the pills is permitted up to 24 weeks.

For those who are not against abortion, taking pills at home may seem a more natural process than a surgical abortion, resulting in more acceptance.

Misoprostol on its own can be found all over the world, from Internet sites to over-the-counter pharmacies in Delhi. In India, misoprostol costs just pennies per pill.

Last year the World Health Organization expanded the use of misoprostol as an "essential medicine" to include treatment of miscarriages and incomplete abortions.

Religious Left's Wrong-Minded Appeal on Global Gag Rule

Pro-life Obama has repealed the Mexico City "gag rule" which prevents American dollars from going to groups that offer abortion services. But some are urging the Obama administration to delay that until he can put it in a broader "abortion reduction" agenda.

First the religious left's explanation of what the Mexico City Policy or Global Gag Rule does is inaccurate. The Global Gag Rule was first put in place by Ronald Reagan, to deny funding to international family planning organizations unless they agreed to specific curtailments as set by the US on the medical services and information they provided to their patients. Health centers in developing nations, which help women and men plan their families and avoid unintended pregnancies, would not be allowed to provide abortions discuss abortion or even hang a poster that mentions abortion.

In countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, imposition of the global gag rule has meant the loss of funds for the contraceptive supplies and services needed to prevent unintended pregnancies. If a woman is in need of a life or health saving abortion? The health center is censored from providing a referral or even telling her that is what she needs.

If you block funds to family planning organizations for family planning and contraception provision, this usually leads to abortion.

The Global Gag Rule was put in place to appease anti-choice voices. President Obama understands that these nods or gestures are are harmful to women and global society's efforts to grow and evolve.

The religious left is not helpful to anyone by perpetuating these false ideas. rw

Senate Votes to Lift Global Gag Rule

An amendment proposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer authorizes foreign policy programs to ensure that America's foreign policy reflects America's values. It gives poor women around the world control of their lives and their futures. The Global Gag Rule denies U.S. family planning aid to foreign health care providers that use funds to provide legal abortions, provide counseling on legal abortion, or publicly support legal abortion within their countries. The effects have been dramatic. In the developing world, health care providers have been unable to agree to ignore their responsibilities to provide women with information about their legal options. In Kenya, clinics have closed leaving tens of thousands of poor people without services. In Ethiopia, contraceptive supplies have run out, leaving thousands of women at risk for an unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Rather than preventing abortion, the Global Gag Rule only makes unsafe abortion more likely. rw

U.S.: Reproductive Health: A Win for Freedom

The Republican-controlled Senate voted to repeal the gag rule on international family-planning assistance. The restriction blocks the use of U.S. money by any organization that even mentions the availability of abortion to women. Even if the House of Representatives goes along with the Senate, the president might veto the repeal. rw

Post Abortion Care

The Global Gag rule has a chilling effect on post abortion care. Organizations who are afraid of losing their funding are not providing post abortion care - even though post abortion care is an exception to the Mexico City Policy. Consequently, women are dying, and those who are not are losing the opportunity to learn about family planning.

Condom Supply to Africa Hit by US Abortion Policy

The Bush administration's ban on funds to family planning clinics which offer abortion counselling is affecting the supply of condoms to countries hit by HIV/Aids. Clinics have had to close in a number of African countries because the organisations refuse to sign a declaration that they will not offer or discuss abortions. The Population Action International said that the policy reduces access to family planning services and weakens HIV/Aids prevention. Many clinics have closed, which are the only provider of sexual healthcare, because of a cutoff of funds from USAID. About $430 million can only go to organisations that have signed the anti-abortion pledge. USAID is the most important donor of condoms, delivering more than a third of all donated supplies. By 2002, the policy had ended shipments of USAID-donated condoms to 16 developing countries whose family planning associations refused to sign the pledge. USAID's condom supplies to a further 13 countries have been cut because the main family planning organisation will not sign. rw

U.S.: States Enact Record Number of Abortion Restrictions in 2011

Legislators introduced more than 1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions (not bills or laws - there are multiple provisions in a bill) in the 50 states of the U.S., up from the 950 introduced in 2010. 135 of these provisions had been enacted in 36 states, up from the 89 enacted in 2010 and the 77 enacted in 2009.

68% of these provisions restrict access to abortion services. Last year only 26% of new provisions restricted abortion.

In 2011 voters in Mississippi rejected the ballot initiative that would have legally defined a human embryo as a person "from the moment of fertilization," setting the stage to ban all abortions and, potentially, most hormonal contraceptive methods in the state. Five states (AL, ID, IN, KS and OK) enacted provisions to ban abortion at or beyond 20 weeks' gestation, based on the claim that a fetus can feel pain at that point. These same five states plus Nebraska have adopted a ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

A South Dakota law would have required a woman to obtain pre-abortion counseling in person at the abortion facility at least 72 hours prior to the procedure; and it would have required her to visit a state-approved crisis pregnancy center during that time. The federal district court enjoined the law and it is not in effect. Texas now requires that women who live less than 100 miles from an abortion provider obtain counseling in person at the facility at least 24 hours in advance. North Carolina now requires counseling at least 24 hours prior to the procedure. A total of 26 states now mandate that a woman seeking an abortion must wait a prescribed period of time between the counseling and the procedure.

Five states adopted provisions mandating that a woman obtain an ultrasound prior to having an abortion, but two, in North Carolina and Texas, were immediately enjoined by federal district courts. Both of these restrictions would have required the provider to show and describe the image to the woman. However, in AZ, FL and KS, provisions are in effect which would require the abortion provider to offer the woman the opportunity to view the image or listen to a verbal description of it. Six states now mandate the performance of an ultrasound prior to an abortion.

Six states now limit abortion coverage in private insurance plans, including newly added Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah.

16 states have provisions restricting abortion coverage available through state insurance exchanges as part of the implementation of health care reform.

Four states enacted provisions directing the state department of health to issue regulations governing facilities and physicians' offices that provide abortion services. Supporters of the measures made it clear that the goal was to set standards that would be difficult, if not impossible, for abortion providers to meet. Enforcement of the proposed Kansas regulations has been enjoined by a state court.

Seven states (AZ, KS, NE, ND, OK, SD and TN) adopted provisions requiring that the physician prescribing the medication for a medication abortion be in the same room as the patient (disallowing telemedicine).

Family planning services escaped major reductions in nine (CO, CT, DE, IL, KS, MA, ME, NY and PA) of the states where the budget has a specific line-item for family planning. However FL, GA, MI, MN, WA and WI, family planning programs sustained deep cuts, although generally in line with decreases adopted for other health programs. Montana eliminated the family planning line item, and New Hampshire and Texas cut funding by 57% and 66%, respectively.

Indiana, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina Texas and Wisconsin, meanwhile, moved to disqualify or otherwise bar certain types of providers from the receipt of family planning funds. New Hampshire decided not to renew its contract through which the Planned Parenthood affiliate in the state received Title X funds.

On the other hand, Maryland, Washington and Ohio took steps to expand Medicaid eligibility for family planning. With the approval of these two programs, 24 states have expanded eligibility for family planning under Medicaid based solely on income; seven have utilized the new authority under health care reform.

Regarding sex education, Mississippi adopted provisions that make it more difficult for a school district to include subjects other than abstinence, such as contraception, in order to offer a more comprehensive curriculum. North Dakota enacted an new requirement that mandates that the health education provided in the state include information on the benefits of abstinence "until and within marriage." Including North Dakota, 37 states now mandate abstinence education.

Islam and Abortion

In Islam, there is no strict, unanimous ban on abortion, but Muslim jurists agree that it is forbidden after the fetus is completely formed and has been given a soul. Islamic theologians differ on when that happens: The Hanafi School of Islamic law prevalent in Pakistan is among the least restrictive. It says the soul is deemed to come into the fetus at four months, and so up to four months, abortion may be induced for "good cause."

U.S.: Debate Boils Over African-American Abortions

Michel Martin, host of TELL ME MORE from NPR News, interviewed Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of the Radiance Foundation which has the Too Many Aborted campaign, and the Reverend Carlton Veazey, president and CEO of the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice, to talk about about a subject which has become very controversial: abortion within the African-American community.

In recent months, several anti-abortion advocacy groups have placed billboards in major cities around the country, decrying the abortion rate among African-Americans. The placards feature provocative slogans such as: The 13th Amendment freed us. Abortion enslaves us. Or: Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted. And that features a picture of President Obama.

While black women make up about 13% of the U.S. female population, they account for 30% of abortions performed in the U.S. , according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The Radiance Foundation's launched the TooManyAborted.com campaign to highlight the disproportionate impact of abortion in the black community where the abortion rate is five times that of the majority population. Bomberger said he was adopted in a family of 15. He's also an adoptive father. He wants to look at life affirming alternatives to the destruction that abortion brings.

He said "it doesn't matter what the pro-life messaging is, it is always going to be denounced by pro-abortion groups who use the euphemisms of a reproductive choice." ... "It's like calling slavery economic justice." "And it all ties to historical initiative launched by Planned Parenthood that has never ended. The Negro Project back in 1939."

Martin said: "it is true that there were projects aimed at encouraging contraceptive use among African-Americans, but I don't know that there's any data to show that abortion was a part of that conversation. In fact, there's also documented evidence that Margaret Sanger abhorred abortion herself."

And Bomberger replied: "I'm not saying about abortion. Birth control, to severely reduce or eliminate the reproduction of poor blacks." ... "Abortion has become today's contraception."

Veazey: "Mr. Bomberger does not understand that when you talk about black community and saying that Planned Parenthood places clinics in those areas, you got to understand also that Planned Parenthood also they are not involved just in the clinic in terms of providing procedure, they also deal with STDs, they deal with cancer screening, they deal with other health issues. And these clinics are placed in the poverty-stricken areas where they can be of more help to black women and black young people."

"Black leaders deplore what he is doing and what the foundation is doing. " ... "You have to understand in terms of statistics is that these are unintended pregnancies. And why is that? Because of lack of health care, lack of the opportunity to provide adequate contraception."

"These are the reasons why that statistic may be high." I come from the South and" was "raised during the '30s and '40s and I know what it was like for poor women and black women. They had back-alley abortions. They suffered from gross infection and hemorrhages and died in alleys."

"The grand strategy is simply to create the groundswell so that when this issue comes before the court, they can get a reverse on Roe v. Wade."

Bomberger: "How is it that the same people that can find these clinics to have an abortion can't find the same clinics for contraception? There are over 1,700 clinics around the United States that provide the same reproductive health care as Planned Parenthood. They just don't abort children."

Martin: You just don't agree with the idea that people have abortions because they don't have viable other alternatives - is that your - you just don't buy that.

Veazy: Women are moral agents and "have the ability to make the decision about their lives. " .. "Our first mission statement" ..., "was to ensure women's right to determine when or whether to have children according to her own conscience and religious beliefs without governmental interference."

Boomberger: "When you look at Planned Parenthood and why it exists - a one billion dollar a year industry with a one billion dollar budget, one billion dollars in assets, it's all about money."

Veazey: "The religious right and all those who are against abortion" .. "wait until the child, not a fetus, the child gets here and they abort them through lack of health care. They abort them through lack of education. And you can see it in every major city." ... "And that ad about Obama being the next person could have been an Obama, you've aborted through your lack of concern for the social issues, you've aborted a lot of children that could have been an Obama."

A Ruse: Blaming Abortion for Disappearing Girls

Mara Hvistendahl wrote a book titled "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men." This is a summary of her response to Ross Douthat's New York Times column about the implications of her book.

In a 1994 article for the journal First Things, Amherst College political scientist Hadley P. Arkes outlined a calculated plan for the antiabortion movement. First they would seek to preserve the life of the child who survives the abortion, then they would go on to restrict abortions after the point of 'viability,' or ban those abortions ordered up simply because the child happens to be a female, with an "ultimate end": banning all abortions. 17 years later his strategy has taken hold.

Opposing sex-selective abortion was a tactical maneuver, not a feminist act. Now antiabortion legislators are using the prevalence of sex selection in Asia to justify restrictions on abortion in the United States.

Illinois, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Arizona have already banned sex-selective abortion while Massachusetts, Rhode Island, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey have proposed bans.

These bills are filled with language intended to set a precedent for declaring a fetus equivalent to a life.

Hvistendahl says that in her book she made it clear that the victims were women who were used as pawns to reduce their birth rates, women who aborted female fetuses in a patriarchical setting, and women who, now that they are scarce, find themselves at greater risk of being trafficked, kidnapped, or sold by their parents to men desperate to find wives.

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has turned this around to suggest that victim might be the fetus.

Sex-selective abortion is wrong because women should account for half of the human population, and in parts of the world they now account for far less. That alone justifies moral outrage.

U.S.: Ohio House Approves Abortion Ban After Heartbeat

The Ohio House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 54 to 43 to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which can be as early as six weeks. Most Republicans voted in favor. It does not contain exceptions for rape, incest or the life or health of the mother.The bill will go next to the Republican-dominated Ohio Senate.

The law, if enacted will face a court challenge because it conflicts with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which upheld a woman's right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually at 22-24 weeks.

Two other abortion bills were passed by the House, one that would ban late-term abortions after 20 weeks if a doctor determines that the fetus is viable outside the womb; the other excludes abortion coverage from the state insurance exchange created by the federal health care law.

The late-term ban already was passed by the Ohio Senate.

Ohio Right to Life said the bill is unconstitutional and believes it is not wise to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer's dollars defending it.

For All the Debate in Washington, the Battle Over Abortion is Actually in the States, Which Are Imposing More Limits Than Ever. Missouri is a Case Study

Alito's confirmation would not produce the votes sufficient to overturn the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Even if Roe is reversed, states will be free to preserve abortion rights, and many almost will. Polls consistently show that most people in the U.S. want abortion to be legal. In a unanimous decision authored by Sandra Day O'Connor, the high court backed away from directly interfering with a New Hampshire law saying a lower court should not have struck down a parental-notification requirement entirely, and ordered the judges to come up with a limited version that would protect the health of girls seeking abortions in emergency situations. The environment here in Missouri is so hostile, with four abortion doctors left in the state the option for a pregnant woman was the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, an eight-hour round trip by car and another trip for a follow-up exam that lasted about five minutes. The whole episode cost her a little more than $600. Increasingly, the question of how difficult it is to get an abortion, if you can get one at all, depends on where you live and how much money you have. State legislatures passed 52 new laws restricting abortion and few states were more active than Missouri. Governor Blunt summoned a special session to pass bills that allow civil suits to be brought against anyone who helps a Missouri teen obtain an abortion without a parent's consent and require doctors who perform abortions to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. The Missouri legislature is back in session with a list of bills, including one to protect pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for morning-after pills, give tax credits to centers that discourage abortions, and require pain relief be given to fetuses that are aborted after 20 weeks. Pollsters say that Americans' views on abortion have shifted relatively little since Roe v. Wade, and that sometimes they are contradictory. In a survey for instance, 65% said they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, but nearly an identical percentage said they would like to see more legal restrictions. Among the most popular: mandatory waiting periods, parental and spousal notification, and a ban on all late-term abortions. The Guttmacher Institute found that the two most common reasons for an abortion are that "having a baby would dramatically change my life" and "I can't afford a baby now." Most Americans say they think abortion should be illegal in those circumstances. A majority of Americans said they supported abortion only in the case of rape, when the mother's life or health is endangered or when there is a strong chance of serious birth defect. Even before many of the restrictions went into effect, the abortion rate and the overall number of abortions in the U.S. were on the decline. In 2000, the abortion rate was 21.3 per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, down from 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 1980 and 1981. Economic growth, better contraception and safe-sex practices probably all contribute to the trend. But a 2004 study found that states that have adopted laws regulating abortion experienced a larger decline than those that have not. Reductions are particularly steep, in states that restricted the use of Medicaid funds to pay for poor women's abortions and those that required pre-abortion counseling about fetal development and abortion risks. Some have different theories. The 24-hour waiting period and the reduction of the numbers of clinics do not reduce abortions. They increase later abortion. A 2000 study in Mississippi found that the percentage of second-trimester abortions increased after the state adopted mandatory counseling and waiting periods. Fully 24% of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic's first-trimester abortions are being done with mifepristone, formerly called RU-486. And finally, there is the so-called morning-after pill. The Planned Parenthood affiliate in St. Louis performed about the same number of abortions in 2004 as in 2003. But in the same time period, the number of morning-after kits they dispensed jumped, to 8,000 from 6,500. Missouri has become the first state to extend its parental-notification law beyond its state line, a move aimed across the Mississippi River at the Hope Clinic, that sits in Granite City, Ill. A recent morning found a waiting room filled with anxious-looking young women, with a few boyfriends, husbands and children. Because Illinois has no parental-notification law, Hope Clinic had been the easiest option for Missouri teens seeking to get an abortion without telling their parents. But the new Missouri law has Hope demanding proof of age of all prospective patients. Thirty-two states require that women receive pre-abortion counseling. In three states, a description of the basic procedure is offered; in three others, women are told that the fetus may feel pain. In Illinois, counseling is not mandatory, but if a fetus is viable, the woman must be offered anesthesia for the fetus. Waiting Twenty-four states that mandate counseling also require that women wait, usually 24 hours, between counseling and an abortion. The Supreme Court last week instructed an appeals court to reconsider a New Hampshire parental notification law that it had struck down. Ohio prohibits a procedure known as dilation and extraction throughout pregnancy. Three other states have outlawed the procedure when there is a viable fetus. Seven other states have blanket bans on "partial-birth" abortion on the books, but a Supreme Court ruling makes these laws unenforceable. rw

Women Seeking An Abortion Turn to the Internet Rather Than the Boat to England

The number of women from Ireland seeking abortions in England has fallen for the ninth successive year.

Pro-life group Precious Life said the decline in women traveling to England for an abortion shows "the pro-life battle is being won in Ireland". However pro-choice campaigners claim these statistics do not show the full picture.

Many other women go to Scotland or further afield in Europe for an abortion and there is an unknown number of women who obtain tablets over the internet to terminate a pregnancy.

Dr Audrey Simpson, director of the Family Planning Association (FPA) Northern Ireland, said: "These statistics show that criminalising abortion does not stop women having abortions. It is time for politicians to bring Northern Ireland into the 21st century and provide women with the same health care services that are free and available in the rest of the UK."

The 1967 Abortion Act applies only in England, Scotland and Wales, making it virtually impossible for women in Northern Ireland to obtain an abortion on the NHS. Northern Ireland is the only country in the UK where abortion is illegal. There abortion is only permitted for rape, incest, or where the fetus is diagnosed disabled.

Abortion as Uncommon as it was in Grandma's Day

Young Australian women are as unlikely to have an abortion as their grandmothers. Researchers credit increasing condom use and the nation's enthusiasm for having children. Less than 5% of women born in the 1980s have had an abortion, a drop from 14% 10 years ago.

The study involves about 4,500 women of all ages whose reproductive history was mapped over their lifetime.

Women born before 1945 had below 5%, but this increased rapidly with the legalization of abortion, the sexual revolution and the pill.

We've seen is a dramatic downturn for the latest group born between 1976 and 1990.

These women were past the 20 to 25 peak when women were most likely to abort.

The findings were linked to changing attitudes to safe sex.

Probably more significantly, the occurrence of HIV and AIDS has vastly increased condom use. The drop could be linked to the recent rise in the birth rate, seen mostly among older women. rw

U.S.: As Abortion Rate Drops, Use of RU-486 is on Rise

The abortion pill RU-486, on the market since 2000, has become an alternative, making abortion less clinical and more private. RU-486-induced abortions now account for 14% of the total, and more than one in five early abortions are performed by the ninth week of pregnancy.

The pill has helped slow the decline in abortion providers, as more physicians discreetly start to prescribe the pill.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000, some predicted it would revolutionize the abortion experience. But the impact has been happening gradually as it slowly and steadily is becoming integrated into the medical system.

Women take the pill in the doctor's office and then go home, where they take another drug, misoprostol, to trigger contractions, causing a miscarriage. Standard abortions cost about $400, the pill can cost the same to about $100 more.

About 150,000 of the 1.2 million abortions in the US in 2006 were done with medication. In some European countries, more than 60% of abortions are performed with the drug.

One doctor in Albuquerque said she does not use the pill at one of her offices but does offer it along with standard abortions at a clinic where she works. At another clinic, she provides only the pill.

Women who want this have really done their homework. They know exactly what the process is and really have made a very conscious decision about their choice. rw

Abortions Down 25% From Peak; but a Study Says More Women Are Choosing Medication, Rather Than Surgery, to End Pregnancies.

The number of abortions in America has plunged to 1.2 million a year, down 25% since peaking in 1990. In the early 1980s, 1 in 3 pregnant women chose abortion, now it is closer to 1 in 5.

Women are gravitating to medication abortions, and expel the embryo in the privacy of their homes. The FDA approved the pills for use through the seventh week of pregnancy.

By 2005, the pills accounted for 13% of all abortions.

The Guttmacher report came to no conclusions about why the abortion landscape had changed. Abortion rights advocates suggested women may be avoiding unwanted pregnancies, thanks in part to the morning-after pill. Activists have pledged to lobby to make all forms of birth control cheaper and more widely accessible. They also plan to push states to require sex-education classes that teach about contraception.

Dwell too much on abortion, and the broader liberal agenda will bog down, said a consultant who developed the strategy. Conservatives, are eager to keep the focus on abortion and contend that the more women learn about the procedure, the less likely they are to choose it. Some of the material is false or misleading, for example, warnings that abortion raises the risk of breast cancer or causes post-traumatic stress disorder. Many of the counseling brochures use photos of fetal development through nine months, though 90% of abortions take place in the first trimester.

Abortion opponents plan to lobby to expand this type of counseling.

Some of the biggest drops in the abortion rate have come in states that do not impose tight restrictions.

The data suggest that the decline in abortions may be due to a shift in women's attitudes. The antiabortion movement should focus on continuing to "change hearts and minds."

The number of abortion clinics nationwide was down 15%,(48). But other health centers and doctors in private practice filled the gap by offering medical abortions.

Abortion clinics have been besieged by protests, but it's harder for protesters to identify a physician in private practice.

Missouri recently required doctors who dispense the abortion pill to turn their offices into full surgical suites. But a judge put the law on hold, pending a legal challenge.

There is little popular support for restricting such abortions.

Most doctors who prescribed the abortion pill work in urban areas, so access to abortion had not improved for rural women.

More than 1 in 4 abortion patients reports traveling at least 50 miles to reach a provider. It was difficult to persuade abortion doctors to share information about their practice because they feared reprisals from protesters. rw

Chinese Province Bans Sale of Abortion Drugs

Henan province has banned the sale of abortion drugs as part of its efforts to maintain the gender balance. Vendors of abortion drugs will face fines of up to 20,000 yuan (2,564 dollars), while pregnant women who have their babies aborted illegally will face a fine of 2,000 yuan.

The move is a measure to ban fetal gender selection by abortion in the province. An abortion is legal when the foetus has serious hereditary disease and continual pregnancy will harm the mother, or if she has divorced or lost her spouse.

The ratio between boys and girls in Henan, with a population of 100 million , was 118.46 to 100, higher than the world average ratio of 103-107 to 100. Henan's authorities have blamed the gender imbalance on the use of ultra-sound technology that allows families to identify the sex of fetuses. Generally boys are favoured over girls.

If such birth ratios continue, China will have up to 25 million men with no hope of finding a female mate between 2015 and 2030. rw

Life After Roe

For the first time in 14 years, legal abortion in the US is in jeopardy. The Supreme Court announced it would review the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Lawmakers vowed to litigate South Dakota ban all the way to the high court. The court told the abortion rights side it could no longer use racketeering laws to halt protests at abortion clinics. Twenty years from now, we'll be back where we are today unless we move beyond Roe which is increasingly obsolete as a framework for managing decisions about reproduction. It must be up to reproductive rights supporters to give the public abortion reduction within a framework of autonomy. The first point is the so-called "partial birth" abortion ban. Second is the South Dakota law. The third is the potential retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. They'll reignite the cycle of victory, backlash and defeat. Six years ago, anti-abortion groups faced a choice: Add a health exception to the federal partial-birth bill, or refuse and gamble that a future court would uphold the ban. The gamble paid off. Roe is more than three decades old, was a 7 to 2 decision, has been used as a basis for subsequent Supreme Court opinions and was reaffirmed 14 years ago. Roe affects many women and is popular. There's no chance a Roberts-Alito-Stevens court would overturn Roe, but the ruling could set off a political explosion. Because the South Dakota ban so flagrantly defies Roe, lower courts will probably strike it down quickly. Abortion rights groups will take it straight to the high court, hoping to make Roe a central issue in the 2008 elections. The court might refuse to hear, or it might sit on the case until after the elections. In short, 2008 will look a lot like 1989, with a surge of pro-abortion rights voting and a frightened retreat by anti-abortion politicians. But the House, Senate and White House will be up for grabs and abortion rights supporters could find themselves in control of the federal government. The last time they were in power, they tried to enshrine Roe in federal law and subsidize abortions through Medicaid and President Bill Clinton's health insurance proposal. Improvements in neonatal care have made fetuses viable earlier than was possible in 1973. Meanwhile, sonograms and embryology have made people aware of how well developed fetuses are while vulnerable to abortion. Second-trimester abortions are becoming easier to avoid. In 1973, fewer than 4% of abortions took place before the ninth week of gestation. By 2000, the percentage was nearly 60 and rising. And by 2002, two-thirds of clinics were offering pills that abort pregnancies in the first seven weeks. Technology is helping women avoid unwanted pregnancies. Emergency contraception was almost unheard of a decade ago. Some activists are fighting these pills but polls suggest that even most people who oppose legal abortion would tolerate the pills. Contraceptive use rose 11% from 1982 to 2002 and the abortion rate dropped by about 30%. Technology can't avert all our failings or tragedies. There will always be abortions. But when you look at the trends you can begin to envision a voluntary exodus from abortion. Maybe, if we spend the next 10 years helping women avoid second-trimester abortions, we won't have to spend the next 20 or 40 years defending them. The road out of Roe won't be easy. Conservatives are fighting early abortion pills, morning-after pills, sex education and birth control. But that's a more winnable fight, and a more righteous one. rw

U.S.: Obama's Life Story Now An Anti-Abortion Ad

BET viewers were seeing Obama's life story turned into an anti-abortion ad, sponsored by catholicvote.org. A camera zooms in on a fetus in a womb as these words appear on the screen: "This child's future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure this child will become the 1st African-American President." The ad ends with a photograph of President Obama and this message: "Life: Imagine the Potential."

The ad is the first in a series that will use the same tag line. "Abortion is the enemy of hope".

The ad comes amid heightened anxiety that Obama will abandon or reverse pro-life policies established by President George W. Bush. rw

Anglican Church Says Overpopulation May Break Eighth Commandment

Australia's Anglican Church has linked overpopulation to the eighth commandment 'Thou shall not steal'. The governing body of Australia's Anglican Church has released a discussion paper that states "out of care for the whole of creation, particularly the poorest of humanity and the life forms who cannot speak for themselves, it is not responsible to stand by and remain silent [on the issue of overpopulation]."

The paper adds that "unless we take account of the needs of future life on Earth, there is a case that we break the eighth commandment—'thou shall not steal'."

The General Synod recommends that the federal government should no longer encourage population growth with financial incentives, such as the controversial 'baby bonus' whereby the Australian government pays a mother 4,000 Australian dollars every time she has a new baby. The bonus, which was put into effect beginning in 2004, has been linked to Australia's ongoing baby boom, the largest since the 1970s.

"In the context of unsustainable global population growth it is inconsistent and arguably irresponsible to provide financial incentives for population increase," the Australian Anglican Church says.

Currently some 6.8 billion people inhabit the Earth. Scientists estimate that by 2050 that number will rise to 9 billion before leveling out. Environmentalists say that overpopulation is leading to worsening climate change, unsustainable resource use, mass extinction, deforestation, pollution, and food and water shortages. rw

Abortion Rights Groups Say Idaho's 'Informed Consent' Booklets Are Misleading

Booklets handed out to women seeking an abortion in Idaho contain and misleading information, abortion rights groups say, but an official said they are fair.

The chief of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's said that it's a balanced approach. The law requires nearly all women seeking to terminate a pregnancy to receive three booklets and wait 24 hours before being allowed to undergo the procedure. Idaho had an informed consent law since 1983, but the state attorney general deemed it unconstitutional because it allowed no exceptions for medical emergencies. The new Idaho law includes such exceptions.

The new law penalizes health care providers who don't provide the booklets and allow a woman to make an informed choice.

The new law doesn't make exceptions on who must get the booklets and they emphasize the risks of abortion but not childbirth.

The coordinator for Right to Life of Idaho said many women who have abortions did not receive information first and might have made different choices if they had had that information.

The state avoided the controversial issues that some other states include in their booklets. Rep. Bill Sali, R-Kuna, an abortion opponent, insisted on discussing what he said is a link between abortion and breast cancer. House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, a breast cancer survivor, took offense, and she and the rest of the Democratic delegation walked out.

In 2004, there were 963 abortions performed in Idaho - down from the 1,047 in 1994, even though the state's population has increased. rw

U.S.: I'm Pro-life. So Why Do I Support Planned Parenthood?

I'm pro-life because I value all human life. This includes the lives of every person living in my country, the lives of children living in poverty, and victims of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in the third world, the lives of criminals on death row, the homeless living in the streets, and soldiers serving our country abroad.

I also value the nascent human life of the unborn.

So why aren't I trying to defund Planned Parenthood, calling abortion doctors "murderers," and petitioning the federal government to overturn Roe vs. Wade?

In fact, why haven't I spent all my money - and demanded that the government do the same - to send meals and vaccines to every person on the planet and provid rooms for all the homeless, and demand our country surrender every war?

Because these actions would substitute ideologies for solutions, and favor short-term irrational emotion rather than long-term pragmatic decisions.

I want the abortion rate in this country - and every country - to plummet. Almost everyone feels that way.

But overturning Roe vs. Wade, or cutting funding for healthcare to low-income women and families is not going to make it happen. It's going to happen by expanding healthcare access, contraceptive use, and sex education.

Russia has had one of the highest abortion rates in the world. But in the late 1980s and 1990s the expansion of contraceptive access in Russia was found to curb the practice. (http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5055/index1.html)

In Uganda, where abortion is illegal and sex education focuses exclusively on abstinence: the abortion rate there is more than double what it is in the United States. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/12abortion.html?src=tp)

In the U.S. a 46% decline in the odds of an abortion was seen when low-income women had access to healthcare that provided contraception in year-long supplies, according to researchers at University of California (http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/25/want-to-slash-the-abortion-rate-dole-out-a-years-supply-of-birth-control-pills/)

In the Netherlands, where abortion (and prostitution) are completely legal, the abortion rate is the lowest in the world, credited to very comprehensive sex education and easy access to contraceptives, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-women/2009/10/14/abortion-down-contraception-up-recipe-for-health-reform)

An ideological war on abortion that ignores the data and sets its sights on low-income women who lack proper education and resources must stop. The Pro-Life movement must make reducing the rate of abortion the goal, and seek rational methods and solutions that will serve this purpose. If they continue with this righteous ideology without concern for results, then we want the term "pro-life" back. They're using it wrong.

Georgia Plays Front-runner on Anti-Choice Agenda

Some anti-choice activists have denounced abortion as black genocide. Operation Outrage, a campaign to publicize the "holocaustic impact" of abortion in the black community, has gained national attention via a billboard campaign that sprang up here and is spreading across the country.

"In Georgia, 60 percent of abortions are done on black women," the leader Davis said at one point, citing state health statistics, although black women comprise just 30% of the state's female residents. Women, she said, are still dying from abortions: "It did not end because we allowed it to become legal."

The Guttmacher Institute reports that illegal abortions "accounted for 17% of all deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth in 1965." Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, led to dramatic reductions in maternal mortality.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified only nine deaths for 2006 that were related to legal abortion.

Georgia's pregnancy-associated mortality rate is the sixth highest in the U.S. at 20.3 per 100,000 live births for black women and 5.5. per 100,000 live births for white women, according to the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Division of Public Health.

Mexico;: Legal Abortion No Longer a Distant Goal for Activists

Two draft laws in Mexico could make abortion legal in cases other than those involving rape or a threat to a pregnant woman's life.

For the first time there is a serious debate on this, and a possibility that abortion will be decriminalised.

Legislators introduced a draft law that would allow voluntary abortion to be carried out in Mexico City up to the 14th week of pregnancy.

Senators presented a draft law that would make abortion legal nationwide before the 12th week of pregnancy.

The conservative governing National Action Party (PAN) announced protest demonstrations and action aimed at blocking the two draft laws. President Calder said that he believes in "the defense of life" and considers the present legislation, which allows -- in most Mexican states -- abortion only in case of rape, a deformed fetus, or a threat to the life of the pregnant woman, adequate for now.

Only in Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Vatican is abortion illegal under any circumstance.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, activists are fighting for abortion in nearly every country.

In Mexico it is estimated that there are up to one million illegal abortions a year. Backstreet abortions are the fourth or fifth leading cause of death among Mexican women. Even in cases of rape, or risk to the mother's life, a legal abortion is nearly impossible.

Only 15% of the pregnant women interviewed said they really wanted to be having a baby at that time.

The Vatican is sending Colombian Bishop Alfonso L'pez, to Mexico to support opponents of the new draft laws.

Conservatives claim that abortion is murder and have advertised in the local press to explain what abortion methods consist of and that at a few weeks' gestation, the fetus has a human form.

The Coalition for the Rights of All has put videos on the Internet showing how a fetus dies when a woman has an abortion.

If conservativesthey had "a minimum of integrity" they ought to show the deaths of women who have undergone backstreet abortions.

Four million abortions a year are practiced in Latin America, and 5,000 women die as a result. Thirty to 40% of women who go through the procedure suffer life-threatening complications.

The important thing is to have a public health system that improves and extends everything to do with sex education and prevention of unwanted pregnancies.

The draft laws under debate in Mexico stress that access to contraceptive methods needs to be improved urgently.

In the present legislative process we found an openness to listen to different points of view, and a resistance to the threats and warnings from the church.

The Church is threatening to excommunicate those who are in favour of legalised abortion and claims it is only defending the life and dignity of human beings, and "no one should be opposed to that."

The debate includes the timeworn discussion about whether a fetus at less than 12 or 14 weeks gestation should be considered an individual person or not, and whether or not it feels pain when it is aborted. rw

U.S.;: States Fund Antiabortion Advice; Public Grants Surge for the Crisis Centers. Some Ban Contraception Talk

Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania use public funds to subsidize Christian homes for unwed mothers and programs designed to steer women away from abortion. As a condition of the grants, counselors are barred from referring women to any clinic that provides abortions; in some cases, they may not discuss contraception.

Most states spend far more money on family planning, but tax dollars to antiabortion groups has surged in recent months. Abortion-rights supporters assert that the funds would be better spent if used to expand access to birth control. In Texas, the state reduced grants to a Planned Parenthood clinic in downtown Austin and began sending money to the Roman Catholic diocese a block away.

There, counselors collect $1.05 in public funds for every minute they spend encouraging women and teens not to abort. Tax dollars cannot be used for religious purposes, but federal law permits faith-based groups. Crisis pregnancy centers have received tens of millions of dollars from the federal government over the last six years, mostly for abstinence education.

Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas approved funding in 2005. Louisiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania have longer-running programs. Arizona and Kansas have offered one-time grants to antiabortion groups. States will spend at least $13 million this year to dissuade women from abortion.

Conservatives in several states are pushing to restrict or eliminate public funding for groups that support abortion rights. The vast majority of states send grants to Planned Parenthood, in amounts that dwarf the antiabortion funding. Tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood cover birth control, gynecological exams, cancer screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. When clients come in with unwanted pregnancies, they hear about all of their options. Antiabortion activists pamphlets feature photos of adorable babies and beaming teenage moms.

U.S. Rep. Waxman, an abortion rights supporter, asked investigators to contact 23 crisis pregnancy centers: 20 gave misleading information, he reported. In Austin, the diocese hands out a booklet, approved by the state, that suggests a link between abortion and breast cancer, though the National Cancer Institute has found no such connection.

In 2005, Texas lawmakers redirected $25 million to primary-care health clinics, but $5 million of the money was set aside for antiabortion centers. The Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin had to begin charging for services long offered free to low-income women. Since the fees took effect, the clinic has distributed 40% fewer birth control pills and has conducted 50% fewer Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer. Several thousand patients have stopped coming.

Texas antiabortion groups had counseled 660 women and teens with the tax dollars made available by the shift in resources. Last week, the Texas Catholic Conference sent volunteers in turquoise shirts to the Capitol to give lawmakers cakes, and a long list of legislative priorities, first was abolish abortion in Texas. rw

U.S.;: House Members Urge Amnesty to Reject Abortion Proposal

Seventy-four House members have sent a letter to Amnesty International to reject a proposal that would support access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, sexual assault or to save the life of the woman.

The group has said forced marriage of young girls and illegal abortions are being discussed. The letter asks Amnesty to remain neutral on the issue of abortion.

To support abortion, which many believe is a human rights abuse, would undermine Amnesty's reputation and effectiveness, said the letter, which was signed by House Majority Leader John Boehner.

Amnesty is not debating whether women have the right to an abortion under any circumstances. A decision on the proposal could come during Amnesty's next international gathering. rw

U.S. Religions Quietly Launch a Sexual Revolution

A think tank, The Religious Institute, in a a 46-page manifesto on the state of sexuality in religious communities has said that silence should be broken about a host of sexuality issues. The manifesto is titled: "Sexuality and Religion 2020: Goals for the Next Decade."

Goals include improved pastoral care of marital relationships, domestic abuse and infertility, and training for prospective clergy in sexuality-related matters.

According to the manifesto, religious leaders should provide lifelong age-appropriate education for youth and adults and to become more effective advocates for comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health in society.

Clergymen who are often first responders in matters of domestic violence and potential (and actual) suicides by young people struggling with sexual identity have usually received little to no training for the job.

The document offers an uncompromised progressive vision that does not seek "common ground" with conservative evangelicals and Catholics.

It calls for full access to reproductive health care, including abortion, marriage equality, full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of religious communities.

The report as generated only a little media attention but progress is already being made.

The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary saw it as "evidence of the continued subversion of biblical authority and confessional integrity that characterizes the revolt against orthodoxy in so many churches."

But he acknowledged: "Our pews are filled with people worried about their sexuality, wondering how to understand these things, struggling with same-sex attractions, tempted to stray from their marriages, enticed by Internet pornography and wondering how to bring their sexuality under submission to Christ." And evangelicals "should not avoid its urgency in calling pastors and Christian leaders to teach and preach about sex and sexuality."

The Religious Institute is a national network of more than 5,000 clergy and religious leaders from 50 religious traditions. Its founder Rev. Debra Haffner, is a former executive director of SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), the nation's leading association of sex educators.

Advances have been made in the last 10 years, with female clergy taking leadership roles in major denominations; a woman is presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church; Lesbian, gay, transgendered and bisexual people gaining acceptance; and marriage equality being recognized by the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

One Church recently announced that clergy will now be required to be "competent" to address matters of sexuality in the lives of their parishioners.

The manifesto said that 75% of progressive clergy had not addressed sex education and 40% had not preached about sexual orientation over a two year period. 70% had never preached on reproductive justice.

Issues that parishoners have where they need the help of clergy are: sexual abuse, marriages breaking up, and infertility.

When matters of sexuality are avoided, it shows up in clergy sex-abuse scandals. "And it's not just the Catholics." When you can't talk about it in your churches, where can you talk about it. Silence contributes to people's alienation and aloneness.

Five mainstream denominations are working on mandatory sexual competence for clergy and 15 denominations on matters that affect everyone. a number of denominations have focused on issues of domestic violence. All would benefit from clergy training and open discussion of matters of sexuality, including the teaching of young people and strategies for keeping children safe from sexual predators.

Dr. Martin Marty, the eminent historian of religion at the University of Chicago compared sexuality to religion. "If you get it right, it's beautiful. But if you get it wrong, it really messes you up."

U.S.: Coercing Women in Crisis

The National Abortion Federation claims that "options counseling" centers exist only: "To keep women from having abortions." They routinely provide women with information and rarely refer women for abortion or birth control.

Although staffed by volunteers, many of these centers masquerade as a doctor's office but their lack of medical personnel does not stop some centers from deceptively advertising an "Ask the Doctor" service.

Among the misinformation spread by some of these clinics is that birth control methods are abortifacients, and that having an abortion is a life-threatening procedure that can lead to breast cancer. The centers have been known to extend the waiting period for pregnancy test results to expose women to their anti-choice or religious propaganda. CPCs often present them with gruesome and graphic images of bloody and dismembered fetuses that have allegedly been aborted as a scare tactic. Many of these centers receive federal funding, and outnumber abortion clinics 2-to-1 in the U.S. rw

Abortions Via 'Telemedicine' Are Safe, Effective, Iowa Study Finds

Physicians can now supervise administration of the pregnancy-ending drug RU-486 via "virtual" counseling and this method was found to be just as effective and acceptable to patients as a face-to-face office visit, a new study finds.

75% of patients who choose that option said they did not prefer having the doctor in the room during the procedure.

94% of the women who chose telemedicine reported that they were "very satisfied" with the procedure, and researchers found that women who received the counseling had no more complications than those who had office visits, according to the new report published in the latest edition of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

13 Million Abortions a Year in China

Nearly a quarter of the world's abortions happen in China. Abortions in China peaked in the 1990s, with official figures saying 14 million were performed.

Abortion has long been the instrument of choice for married couples who do not want daughters and for officials enforcing China's one-child policy for the past 30 years.

It used to be that older, married women were the largest group getting abortions. But today it is mostly younger and unmarried women.

Ms Lily Liu, the Beijing-based country director of Marie Stopes International, a sex health charity, explained: due to better nutrition, girls reach puberty - and possibly become sexually active - earlier, at age 12-1/2 in the 1990s compared with 14-1/2 in the 1970s. And they are getting married later.

In a study it was found that more than 22% of young women were having premarital sex and more than half of this number did not use contraceptives. 20% of these sexually active women have gotten pregnant at least once, and 90% of these aborted the baby.

Another study of women aged 20 to 29 in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai found the abortion rate to be 62%. Only 2% of the women had used contraceptives. And another study showed that 90% of young women have had at least one abortion. One even had 11 within three years.

Most likely these women - migrant workers, white-collar workers and students - were more fearful of parental anger and the stigma of having a child before marriage than of having an abortion.

It is inexpensive and about a four hour procedure to get an abortion in China. But there are possible harmful health effects of abortion.

Most analysts agree that the lack of sex education is to blame. Only 3% of parents talk to their daughters about sex, says one poll. Another poll found that 85% of students learn about sex on the Internet.

Last year, several universities in Shanghai held their first-ever sex education talks, attracting packed audiences. But cheap contraceptives are not available to students.

Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States

Almost 50% of pregnancies among American women are unintended, with 40% of these terminated by abortion. 22% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.

49% of pregnancies among white women are unintended; the figure is 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics. Abortions have declined in number from 2000 to 2005.

Annually, 2% of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; half have had at least one previous abortion. At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, about one-third will have had an abortion.

18% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are teenagers; ages 15-17 account for 6%, ages 18-19 11%.

50% of abortions are obtained by women in their twenties;

30% of abortions occur to non-Hispanic black women, 36% to non-Hispanic white women, 25% to Hispanic women and 9% to women of other races.

37% of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28% as Catholic.

45% of abortions are obtained by women who have never married and are not cohabiting.

61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.

42% of abortions are obtained by women with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level.

Reasons given for abortion: 75% of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; 75% say they cannot afford a child; 75% say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and 50% say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

54% of women who have abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant. Of these, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users report having used their method inconsistently.

46% of women who have abortions had not used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Of these 33% had perceived themselves to be at low risk for pregnancy, 32% had had concerns about contraceptive methods, 26% had had unexpected sex and 1% had been forced to have sex.

8% of women who have abortions have never used a method of birth control; nonuse is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated.

About 50% of unintended pregnancies occur among the 11% of women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy but are currently not using contraceptives.

Only 23% of abortion providers offer abortion after 20 weeks and 11% at 24 weeks.

The average amount paid in 2009 for a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks' gestation was $451.

88% of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, 2006.

Fewer than 0.3% of abortion patients experience a complication that requires hospitalization and abortions performed in the first trimester pose virtually no long-term risk of such problems as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or birth defect, and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries.

Exhaustive reviews concluded that there is no association between abortion and breast cancer and there is no indication that abortion is a risk factor for other cancers.

In repeated studies since the early 1980s, leading experts have concluded that abortion does not pose a hazard to women's mental health.

58% of abortion patients say they would have liked to have had their abortion earlier.

Thirty-five states currently enforce parental consent or notification laws for minors seeking an abortion.

In 2006, publicly funded family planning services helped women avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, which would likely have resulted in about 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions.

The Choice is Yours

Saying out loud that you've had an abortion is, even in Britain, a provocative act. Breaking that taboo recently, women are posting on Twitter the phrase #ihadanabortion in their thousands. What started as a trickle of voices soon became a choir; crowds and crowds of women coming out, liberated and noisy.

It's when you see the lists of names scrolling down the page like water spilling from an overflowing bath, and their tiny but similar stories (ignoring, of course, the tweets from male anti-choice activists bemoaning a "silent holocaust"), that you feel how powerful this might really be in unsmearing the pity and pain associated with abortion, an important part of women's lives that so often goes unspoken of and thereby kept hidden, shameful, and weighty with imagined meaning.

This is the pro-voice movement. While it's not ideal that women must expose their personal medical history in order to defend their own choices, judging by the online response, this is a technique that has an effect. Like the opposite of a sonogram (which anti-choice activists like to use to conjure up an image of a baby, lost, smiling and beating-of-heart) the act of tweeting one's experience removes the horror of the decision, not trivialising but normalising; highlighting how common the choice to abort an unplanned or unviable foetus really is, and how life trundles on afterwards without much changing at all. rw

U.S.: Study Shows Difficulty of Estimating Rates of Self-induced Abortion

The rate of reported self-induced abortion remains relatively low, according to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, some abortion providers believe that the actual number of women self-inducing abortion with the use of the ulcer drug medication misoprostol might be substantially higher than the number of reported self-induced abortions.

The study, which included data from about 10,000 patients at nearly 100 abortion facilities in the U.S., found that 1.2% of women seeking abortions reported ever having used misoprostol to try to end a pregnancy on their own. An additional 1.4% said they had used other substances, such as vitamin C or herbs, to try to end a pregnancy. The study also found that foreign-born women were twice as likely as U.S.-born women to report taking misoprostol or another substance to induce an abortion.

A very small proportion of abortion patients reported having used misoprostol to self-induce abortion, whereas some abortion providers believe that a substantial minority of their patients have used this drug. Some providers believe as many as 40% of patients in their practices have taken misoprostol.

The drug, also known as Cytotec, is FDA-approved to treat ulcers, but using the correct dose can effectively abort a pregnancy between 70% and 94% of the time. The low cost of the drug -- about $2 per dose on the black market -- makes it appealing to some women, despite the risks of heavy bleeding and incomplete abortion. Birth defects also are possible if the abortion is not completed.

The rates of self-induced abortion in the study likely are underestimated because they only include women who sought care at an abortion clinic. In the study, about 5% of participants did not answer questions about their use of misoprostol and other substances to induce abortion.

Jones said that to better understand the issue, "we need research on women's experiences with self-induced abortion outside of abortion clinics before we can determine whether enough women successfully self-induce to impact official abortion rates." She added, "Women who feel they cannot carry an unwanted pregnancy to term need the information and resources that will allow them to seek help from trained professionals to ensure a safe procedure."

Many women who seek abortions "are poor or low-income. About 1.2 million abortions were performed in the U.S. in 2005. A procedure within the first trimester of pregnancy costs about $430 in 2006, while a second-trimester abortion costs about $1,260. rw

U.S.: Utah Bill Reduces Women to Incubators

It's hard to get an abortion in Utah, and a new bill opens the door to prosecuting women who 'intentionally' miscarry.

The new version "designates the 'intentional or knowing' miscarriage as criminal homicide" and "stipulates that a woman can be charged with homicide for 'the death of her unborn child', unless the death qualifies as legal abortion".

Utah already requires parental consent for minors seeking abortions, a 24-hour waiting period to terminate a pregnancy, subjects women seeking abortions to state-directed counselling which discourages abortion, and allows public funding for terminations only in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality, or threat to the women's life or physical health.

There were 6 abortion providers in the whole of the state in 2005, and currently the state has only one licensed abortion clinic.

Utah has become a frontline in the war against legal abortion. Roe is still in place, but anti-abortion activists are battling to render it an impotent statute, hollowed out by state legislation that chips away at abortion rights.

Legal abortion is only worth as much as the number of women who have reasonable and affordable and access to it, and that number is dwindling: 88% of counties in the US have no abortion provider - a figure that rises to 97% in non-metropolitan areas. This can put legal abortion out of a woman's reach.

Anti-choice activist's current strategy is to make legal abortion as inaccessible as possible and criminalise everything else.

Terminating a pregnancy by any other method than the one which has been most ruthlessly restricted - via piecemeal legislation and the defunding of clinics and the unfettered terrorising of abortion providers - is illegal.

In Utah, women have a technical legal right to abortion, but little means to exercise that right.

In pursuit of ensuring that women's right to abortion is as limited as possible, the state has opened the door to prosecuting women who miscarry after having a drink of caffeinated coffee or a beer or a cigarette, or take a vigorous walk, or miss a prenatal care appointment, or shoot up heroin, or go to spinning class, or any one of a number of things that pregnant women do every day, good and bad, if there's someone who will testify she was trying to miscarry; she told me.

The state has conferred personhood on foetuses, and reduced women to incubators. This comes from the same lot who won't properly fund childhood education or support universal healthcare. rw

U.K.: Dozens of Girls as Young as 12 Are Being Given Abortions

The statistics from the Department of Health revealed that, in England and Wales, over 450 teenagers below the age of 14 terminated pregnancies in the years between 2005 and 2008. Twenty-three girls were aged 12 and 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday.

Some claim that the statistics are evidence that Labour's policies on teenage pregnancy had failed. The Tories plan to introduce policies advocating more targeted use of long-acting contraceptive injections for teenagers who had already had an abortion.

64,715 repeat abortions were carried out across all age groups last year - the highest level on record and a rise of 22% in a decade. 46 women had aborted at least eight pregnancies.

The new figures showed a 16% rise in terminations after at least 26 weeks.

The rates of abortions for teenagers as a whole had fallen by 4.5% in the past year, according to Government officials.

U.S.: Legal Induced Abortions Safer Than Childbirth, New Study Finds

A study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology showed that maternal deaths from childbirth are 14 times higher than deaths from legal induced abortions in the United States - 0.6 deaths per 100,000 abortions, compared to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. Pregnancy-related complications and illness are also much more common for childbirth than for abortion, it said.

"Since the early 1970s, the public health evidence has been clear and incontrovertible: induced abortion is safer than childbirth," noted the co-authors Dr. Elizabeth G. Raymond of the Gynuity Health Projects and Dr. David A. Grimes of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Roughly half of the states have laws requiring that women seeking abortions must be given detailed, specific written or verbal information about potential risks from the procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute. For example women seeking abortions in Texas must be given a 23-page pamphlet listing 11 or 12 potential complications from abortion procedures and only six possible complications from vaginal delivery and eight for cesarean sections. Some of the statistics are often expressed in terms that are difficult to understand when they should be expressed in comparisons of deaths per 100,000 events.

Such biased mandated material thwarts informed choice and puts clinicians in the untenable position of having to be complicit in misleading their patients. "Every woman deserves factual medical information whenever she is facing a decision about a pregnancy," the authors said.

Reasons given for the difference: Pregnancies ending in abortion are shorter than those ending in childbirth, so there is less time for complications to develop. Many complications like hypertension and abnormal placentas show up only late in pregnancy, and early abortion avoids those hazards. A third of births occur by cesarean delivery, which has substantial risk of complications and death.

In fact, the authors said women who undergo abortion appear to be at higher risk from problems in pregnancy and childbirth than women who opt for delivery.

Reality Check

Not reality: The claim that this how 'human' a fetus is at normal abortion age	This is more like it -		- - - - - - This is reality: - - - - - - - Babies in Iraq exposed to depleted uranium by U.S. bombing in 1991. The hypocrisy of it all!
about 35 weeks; 99% of abortions are performed before 24 weeks	7 week fetus - 90% of abortions are performed BEFORE 12 weeks		faceless	nose, legs and feet deformed	only arms, legs, and feet are recognizable	Daughter of American soldier in Iraq, DU victim 2004