Author Topic: The Results of the Abortion Ban (Read 574 times)

poche · « **on:** December 03, 2014, 12:25:32 AM »

Since banning abortion in 1989, Chile has seen a sharp decline in the rate of maternal deaths, a new study has shown.

Proponents of legal abortion often argue that bans on the practice increase the dangers of pregnancy, especially since some women procure unsafe illegal abortions. But a study published in a Chilean medical journal shows that a dramatic trend in the opposite direction.

Since 1989, the rate of maternal mortality in Chile has plummeted from 4.1% to 1.3%, given the country the 2nd-best record in the Western hemisphere. During the past decade, the country’s health ministry has reported no increase in the number of women hospitalized because of complications from illegal abortions.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=23393

Nadir · « **Reply #1 on:** December 03, 2014, 01:33:02 AM »

I wonder what those percentages actually mean.

Quote

The maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year.

This http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=2223&c=ma&l=en
is a very interesting tool whereby you can access the MMR of any country over the years 2008 to 2010 - not a large range but interesting to compare one country with another. These are taken from CIA Factbook. I don't know how reliab;e they are. Why would the U.S. MMR be double that of Canada?

Ireland has had (one of?) the world's lowest MMR, largely because abortion is, or has been, illegal up to very recently. The law was changed in 2013 to make abortion more accessible. In one year over 4000 Irish women went to Britain for abortions.

poche · « **Reply #2 on:** December 03, 2014, 03:21:45 AM »

Quote from: Nadir

I wonder what those percentages actually mean.

What it means is that in countries that ban abortion the overall health of the women improves.

Nadir · « **Reply #3 on:** December 03, 2014, 04:48:46 AM »

I understand and agree that abortion has a negative influence on maternal mortality rates. After all, deaths after abortions are counted in the MMR.

What I don't get is what they actually mean by

Quote

the rate of maternal mortality in Chile has plummeted from 4.1% to 1.3%, given the country the 2nd-best record in the Western hemisphere.

As you will see from the graph here, (which covers the Americas rather than the western hemisphere)
http://www.chileno.co.uk/science/maternal-death-rate-in-chile-lower-than-us Chile has a lower mortality rate than the US.

On one hand, the 2010 figures here
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html
show that Ireland (where abortion was illegal) had MMR of 6/100,000
Chile had MMR of 25/100,000 and Madagascar (where abortion is illegal) had MMR of 240/100,000.

There's obviously much more to it.

But obviously, the message needs to be spread that legal abortion does not mean safe abortion as the pro-abortion campaigners claim. But this is nothing new. I remember hearing years ago that Ireland had one of the best scores for MMR.

TKGS · « **Reply #4 on:** December 03, 2014, 06:34:23 AM »

Abortion is actually illegal in a South American country--after having been legal at one time? That is news to me. It is good to know that there are a few places left that do not allow legal abortion.