Combine the legal weakness of the Supreme Court's abortion decisions with a sense that the Court may be changing its approach to abortion rights, add the realization that the public is not pro-abortion, and it becomes clear why the pro-abortionists are more alarmed than ever.

A recent Zogby poll, based on a very large sample size (30,117 respondents, margin of error +/- 0.6%), reinforces this alarm.

Forty-six percent of the public agree that the right to have an abortion is "guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution"--after all, that's what they have been told again and again. Yet, practically the same number, 45%, disagree.
Only 18% agree with the notion that "nominees to the Supreme Court should be confirmed only if their position on abortion is pro-choice." An overwhelming majority, 71%, disagree.

Again we are hearing the "women will die" argument over and over. Let's examine it.

* First let's remember that the pro-abortionists have a history of lying on this very point. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a co-founder of NARAL, wrote in Aborting America (p.193), "How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal? In N.A.R.A.L. we generally emphasized the drama of the individual case … but when we spoke of [statistics] it was always

'5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year.' I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too… But in the 'morality' of our revolution, it was a useful figure … so why … correct it with honest statistics?"

* Some refer to reports from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showing that maternal deaths from abortion declined from 63 in 1972 (24 from legal abortions, 39 from illegal abortions) to 12 in 1991 (11 from legal abortions, 1 from an illegal abortion--presumably not per-formed by a physician) and seven in 1997. Their argument is that legalization made abortion "safe" for women. But maternal deaths from abortion, legal or not, had been declining for many years before Roe as medical procedures (e.g. the use of antibiotics) improved. As the CDC figures for 1973 show, the maternal deaths from legal abortions (25) were still quite substantial as inexperienced abortionists joined up in order to exploit the new "freedom."

There is another problem with CDC figures: The absolute numbers tend to be quite wrong, because the CDC cannot force its sources (e.g. state health departments) to report correctly and fully. For example, in Maryland alone three women died after an abortion in 1989. Yet for this year, the CDC reported only 12 maternal deaths after an abortion in the whole country.

* Pro-abortionists argue for the legalization of abortion because it is "safer" for the mother. For the unborn child, of course, abortion--legal or illegal--is 100% lethal. But is the proposition actually true with regard to maternal deaths? Or is an improvement of medical care the reason for a decline in abortion-related maternal deaths?
To see the importance of medical care vs. the legality of abortion look at these figures from the 2005 World Mortality Report (UNFPA).

The mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 births) for Russia, Vietnam, and the United States are 67, 130, and 17, respectively. Note that all three countries have legalized abortion on demand. The difference is the quality of health care.

The mortality rate for Sweden is two. Sweden has a more restrictive abortion law than the U.S.: Abortions beyond the 18th week of pregnancy require approval from the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Ireland, with very restrictive abortion laws, has a maternal mortality rate of five.

* As noted above, the statistics about abortions are suspect. Look at this quote from the Population Information Program at Johns Hopkins University (July 1994): "An estimated 10 to 20 million illegal abortions are performed worldwide annually, and an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 women die as a result. These deaths account for 20% to 40% of all maternal deaths worldwide." Note the variation by a factor of two.

* All the talk about women dying from "unsafe" abortions never mentions the health risks after legal abortions.

It is "politically incorrect" in this country to point out that abortion increases the risk for breast cancer. Ironically, it was the World Health Organization (WHO) that, decades ago, noted that a completed pregnancy protected the mother against breast cancer. Now, WHO insists on the right to an interrupted pregnancy as a condition for improving the health of women.

It is also "politically incorrect" to take note of extensive studies in Finland, where the nationalized health service has massive records. A recent study by Mika Gissler and colleagues (2005) concludes, "The low rate of deaths from external causes [unintentional injuries, suicide, and homicide] suggests the protective effect of childbirth, but the elevated risk after a terminated pregnancy needs to be recognized in the provision of health care and social services" [emphases added]. In this country, Professor Patricia Coleman and her colleagues also are finding increased health risks for women who had abortions.

Slowly the truth is coming out.