Shredding The Myths about Abortion’s “Benefits” to Women

As promised two weeks ago (sorry, I got a wicked head cold in the interim), here begins the series of posts shredding the myths about “abortion’s benefits to women.” It was the content of my talk at a Respect Life Conference attended mostly by Catholics, held annually in South Meriden, CT, this year on Oct. 9, 2004. In my "workshop" it was a full house, at least 40 people attending (about 200 folks for all three workshops), both men and women, both young and older, ranging from college frosh to grandparents, both religious and layfolks.

Much of this takes literal Q&A’s from Planned Parenthood’s webpage, “Choosing Abortion - Questions And Answers,” and gives supporting evidence that their answers are just plain wrong.

We covered 15 myths (in one hour!), discussing the truths about abortion’s devastating effects on the moms, including specific medical research studies, personal stories and legal cases, including updates on the two legal motions to overturn Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.

LINKS TO ALL 15 ARTICLES FOUND HERE.

(If anyone wishes to receive an emailed MSWORD document of the talk in its entirety, please just email me (see above right corner of blog).)

Here are just some of the myths shredded:

• You go back to being who you were before.
  
• Your fertility is the same as it was before (you can have babies when YOU want them, i.e., later)
  
• It’s my body; it doesn’t concern anyone else.
  
• You’ll feel great relief after an abortion, like all women.
  
• More women die in childbirth than from legal abortions.
  
• Women don’t die from legal abortions, only from illegal ones.
  
• If we make it illegal, we’ll have millions dying from illegal abortions each year.
  
• Abortions don’t make it harder to carry a pregnancy to term; my health, future pregnancies and babies will be fine.
  
• My reproductive rights are guaranteed by the Constitution.

First on the PP website is this question and answer:

1. “Does getting an abortion hurt?
Some kind of painkiller is used in all abortions. Most women feel cramps. You may have cramps during and after a vacuum aspiration. You will feel strong cramps with medical abortion - which is done with medicine instead of instruments.”

This is just one of many stories that shreds this myth:

"I had four abortions…For the first one, they didn't even put me to sleep. They said it would cost more. It hurt! It hurt a lot, and they didn't even care! My mother, the doctor, the nurse, nobody cared!"

“[For my third abortion], I waited until I was five months before I told my mother. She brought me to the doctor and he said it wasn't too late to have an abortion. Why did they keep doing this to me?

"[This time], they put something called saline into me. It was awful. I could feel the baby kicking and fighting. Then the baby stopped kicking and I knew it was dead. I started having labor pains the next day. They were awful. A part of me kept hoping that the baby would be alive and then they'd have to save it. But the pains kept getting longer and stronger. I pushed and then my little boy was born dead. They all left me alone again. I cried for about a minute and then I wrapped him in the sheet and put on the light for the nurse. It took fifteen minutes before she even got there.”

Sadly, the parents of this girl were Catholic. The above is excerpted from Connie Nykiel’s 1997 book, No One Told Me I Could Cry: A Teen's Guide to Hope and Healing After Abortion.

Myth #2 to be shredded tomorrow. I’ll post one a day every day from Oct. 19 through Election Day.