FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: [September 28th, 2017 Ottawa] A study released today in The Lancetrevealed that 55.7 million children were aborted between 2010 and 2014, worldwide. Instead of lamenting the staggering enormity of the numbers of global abortions or the widespread practice of sex selection abortion (aborting females out of cultural preferences for males), the study, funded by heavyweights like the UN, UNICEF, World Health Organization and the UK, Dutch and Norwegian governments, calls for increased access to, and greater availability of, so-called ‘safe’ abortions.
“The study classifies abortions as “safe, less safe and least safe” according to the skill and equipment of the practitioner, but really, one can hardly argue that any procedure that takes the lives of one, much less tens of millions of unborn children around the world, is ‘safe’, says Natalie Sonnen, executive director for LifeCanada. “The study’s authors have utterly ignored the fact that abortion, whether by trained or untrained persons, always results in the death of a vulnerable human being and poses a significant risk to the health of the mother.”
Countries where abortion has been unavailable (Ireland, Poland, Egypt and Uganda) have better maternal and infant health than many countries where abortion is available on request.[i] In Poland, since restrictive abortion laws were reinstated, maternal mortality has plunged by more than 75%. It has been well documented that women who have one or more abortions significantly increase their risk for complications that arise in subsequent pregnancies including premature birth and infant mortality. Following restrictive abortion laws in Poland, these dropped by almost two-thirds and well over a half respectively.[ii]
Literally hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies have indicated the serious adverse effects of legal abortion on women’s health, and in countries that lack proper medical care in the first place, these can be absolutely devastating. One study done in Finland where meticulous medical records are kept supported by a prodigious health care system found maternal mortality following abortion was four times higher than following childbirth (26.7 after giving birth vs 100.5 following abortion). This does not include the incidence of suicide following abortion which the Finnish study found to be six times higher compared to childbirth.[iii]
The many adverse reactions on women’s health demonstrate an enduring human truth; it runs against nature for a mother to take the life of her child. If she does so, it will usually come at a price. It is not uncommon to meet women who vividly and painfully recall abortions they had two or three decades ago.
In Canada, abortion is fully legal at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason. It is available also in pill form and covered by provincial medical plans. “But that doesn’t seem to be enough,” says Sonnen.
“Our Prime Minister also promised 650 million dollars in tax money to ‘reproductive rights’ initiatives including abortion, in developing countries. All this despite the fact that our polls indicate most Canadians want legal restrictions on abortion at some point in pregnancy; despite the known health risks that abortion poses; despite the practice of sex selection abortions around the world and even in Canada; and despite the fact that developing countries desperately need maternal health care initiatives which help women to deliver their babies, not abort them…safely.”
“It’s tragic that we’ve reached this point,” adds Sonnen. “That global institutions with this kind of power and influence, can tout the killing of innocent human beings as a ‘safe’ solution instead of addressing the real underlying factors like poverty, coercion, and cultural pressures that lead to abortion. Women and their children deserve better.”
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About the LifeCanada
LifeCanada was established in 2000 to operate as a national association of local and provincial educational groups across Canada in order to promote the value of human life, to serve our members, and to advocate for the most vulnerable members of society. LifeCanada is a non-profit organization that is supported solely by the generosity of its members.
For further information contact LifeCanada at 1-866-780-5433.
[i] Complications: Abortion’s Impact on Women, Angela Lanfranchi, Ian Gentles, Elizabeth Ring-Cassidy, The deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research, 2013, (p.17)
[ii] UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children (2009).
[iii] Gissler M, Hemminki E and Lonnqvist J. Suicides after pregnancy in Finland. British Medical Journal, 1996
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