Making Abortion Illegal is Futile

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Making Abortion Illegal is Futile

According to Faye Ginsburg "Abortion has been a controversial issue in society for nearly a thousand years" (98). Historical and present-day evidence shows the law made little difference in the amount of abortions that were occurring while it was illegal. Unfortunately, when abortion was illegal, it put the mothers in great danger. Women must have access to safe abortions. The risks of maternal death lessen when abortion is legal and accessible. Women have always used abortion as a last resort to prevent the birth of a child. They always will regardless of what the law or society have to say. No matter if anyone likes it or not there will be abortions. Illegal abortions are dangerous and, therefore, outlawing them is useless and cruel.

In the 1930's there was "an epidemic of criminal abortion" in the United States. According to Stephanie Giutton "The number of births dropped by about half, as women refusing to bring children into a depressed economy resorted to illegal abortion to end their pregnancies" (57). As a result of this, about two thousand five hundred women died each year from abortion complications. This accounted for nearly one in four maternal deaths. According to Chuck Morse "From 1950 to 1965 in the United States, there were two hundred to two hundred fifty abortion related deaths reported each year" (4). But today thanks to changes in the law, the mortality rate from legal abortion is almost zero and abortion accounts for only three percent of maternal deaths. It is impossible to achieve a low maternal morality level without access to safe abortion. So why are President George W. Bush and Senator John Ashcroft trying to make abortion illegal? Don't they know the statistics? Obviously not! President George W. Bush is practically trying to make women's rights illegal. He is taking away our right to choose abortion. President Bush has decided to block United States funds to international family-planning groups that offer abortion and abortion counseling, but supposedly trying to be quiet about it. President George W. Bush never spoke much about his anti abortion views during the campaign so he probably won't during his presidency.

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