if we make abortion illegal won't women have dangerous back-alley abortions I used to think
that legal abortion was necessary to protect women from the dangers of illegal abortions I
not only thought that abortion was necessary I also believed it was a woman's right in fact I
used to perform first trimester suction abortions and second trimester dismemberment abortions and
I was a medical director for Planned Parenthood for about two years I also had my own abortion I
came to realize that the whole idea of keeping abortion legal to protect women's safety was a
lie with every abortion I was harming a woman and killing a child there's no such thing as a safe
abortion one person is killed and the other is at risk for serious complications including deaths
historically speaking legalizing abortion did not make it less deadly for women from the 1940s to
the 1970s deaths of women due to abortion rapidly declined because of better medicine and increased
use of antibiotics not because abortion was made legal the widespread belief that tens of thousands
of women were dying from illegal abortions was a lie propagated mainly by two individuals their
names were Larry later and Bernard Nathanson cofounders of Nehru the National Abortion Rights
Action League like me Bernard Nathanson eventually converted from abortionist to pro-life advocate he
admitted when we spoke of deaths due to illegal abortion it was always 5,000 to 10,000 per year
I confess I knew the figures were totally false in 1960 over a decade before the Supreme Court
decision roe v wade legalized abortion in all 50 states the medical director for Planned Parenthood
at the time Mary Calderon made this statement abortion is no longer a dangerous procedure in
1957 there were only 260 deaths in the whole country attributed to abortions of any kind
90% of all illegal abortions are presently being done by physicians in 1972 the year before row v
Wade 39 women died from illegal abortion and 24 women died from legal abortion in 1973 the
year of roe v wade 19 women died from illegal abortion and 25 women died from legal abortion
so in the year that abortion was nationally legalized more women died from legal abortion
than illegal abortion the truth is that whether it is legal or illegal abortion poses long-term
physical and emotional harm for women including an increased risk of suicide future infertility
pregnancy loss and damage to internal organs women still die from legal abortion today Tanya Reeves
and krier win' are two women who recently died from legal abortions at Planned Parenthood despite
legalized abortion the united states maternal mortality rate is higher than that of nations
with more restrictive abortion laws the United States has a maternal mortality rate of about
14 deaths per hundred thousand live births but in Poland for example where abortion is illegal
except in rare cases the maternal mortality rate is only three deaths per hundred thousand live
births or Malta where abortion is illegal for any reason the maternal mortality rate is only
nine deaths per hundred thousand live births after roe v-- wade the number of abortions in
the United States skyrocketed as of today over 60 million children have been legally killed
by abortion the reality is legalizing abortion has not made abortion safer it has only led to
the deaths of more children and has harmed more women this doesn't need to continue however if we
truly care about the safety of women and their children then we should make abortion illegal
you