Fewer Abortions Could Mean Better Healthcare For Women

By Ian Kelly • February 05, 2010 02:53 PM

Well now here is something to think about. One of the major arguments that pro-abortion folk use is: Abortion lowers the maternal fatality rate. Or to say it another way -- abortion is good for women's health.

However, data out of Poland seems to totally undermine that assertion.

Why has Poland made such strides in improving both maternal and infant health? Certainly not by spending a lot of money on “reproductive health services,” to use the preferred euphemism. Poland is a poor country, much poorer than either Canada or its immediate European neighbours. The money simply isn’t there for any lavish program to improve maternal and infant health. The only change that could have produced such a dramatic improvement is the documented decline in the induced abortion rate.

Since 1989, Poland has virtually banned induced abortion. According to official statistics, the annual legal abortion rate has plummeted from well over 100,000 in the 1980s to a few hundred in the 1990s, and that very low rate has been maintained up to the present. There is little evidence of a widespread resort to illegal abortion, nor have significant numbers of Polish women gone to other countries seeking abortions.

Interestingly, the only other European country where abortion is illegal — Ireland — also boasts very low maternal mortality. By comparison, countries where abortion is completely legal — the United States and Poland’s immediate neighbours, Russia and Hungary — have much higher maternal and infant death rates.

(source)


Women's Health is a major pillar in the pro-abortion movement here in America and if that pillar crumbles under the weight of facts and hard data like this, then how long will it be until other major pillars begin to shake? Could fewer abortions mean better health care for women? It certainly seems like this could be the case.

Folks, facts are stubborn things and try as one may, none can escape them.

All this talk of pillars crumbling makes me thing of a bible verse (I think you know where I'm going here):

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed, and its collapse was total." Matthew 7:27
 

What do you think of this research? Sound off in the comments.

About the Author

Ian Kelly is the primary blogger at Moral Outcry. He has worked full time for Bound4LIFE since 2007. His other responsibilities include local chapter development and online social networking. Besides being a political junkie and a student of government, he enjoys history, sci-fi, super heroes and grilling.

Tags: Abortion, Health Care, Maternal Fatality, Women's Health

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  • sarah says:

    February 05, 2010 at 03:21PM

    For being a developed country, the US maternal/infant fatality rate is disturbing. As is the abortion rate. It does beg the question what does “care” really look like?

  • Christina says:

    February 05, 2010 at 06:45PM

    This is a “Well, duh!” moment that only a diehard abortion fanatic could fail to grasp. The less often you forcefully dilate a woman’s unripe cervix, the less often you scrape around the inside of her uterus with metal instruments, the less often you do things that can wick infection into her uterus, the fewer problems she’ll have with pregnancies. To not grasp that is to wonder why stuff sticks more to a frying pan that’s frequently scraped and scoured with metal spatulas and scrubbers.
    As for why the US infant mortality rate is so high, it’s because of how we count live births. If a baby draws breath or has a pulse, we count her as a live birth, and then when she dies that’s neonatal mortality. Other countries only count babies past particular gestational ages or larger than specific weights; a smaller or younger baby, even if born alive, is counted as a miscarriage or stillbirth.

  • MJ says:

    February 08, 2010 at 04:02AM

    As far as banning induced abortion goes, I think we should follow Poland’s example.
    I read recently that in cases where maternal death results from an abortion in the U.S., it isn’t attributed to the abortion, but counted in the overall number of maternal deaths. The reason for this being that the mother is usually transferred to another medical facility (i.e. hospital) before she actually dies and the cause is not listed as abortion. [I would add a link to my source, but I can’t remember where I read it! Sorry!]