Life Links 3/5/10

There are a couple of articles about the role abortion is playing in the health care debate. One from the Associated Press and another in the Washington Post.


A local FOX News station interviewed embattled Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. In the comments, Gosnell's nephew and a fellow physician attempt to defend him.


At the Americans United for Life blog, Mailee Smith details a study which shows that making abortion illegal in Chile didn't raise maternal mortality.

While considered a “developing nation,” Chile offers a unique opportunity to examine the impact of abortion laws on maternal mortality. Abortion was legal there from 1931 until 1988, but was completely outlawed in 1989. As a result, Chile now maintains one of the strictest abortion bans in the world. And unlike many nations—including the United States—Chile has maternal health data dating back to the beginning of the 1900s.

The study, which examined maternal deaths form 1960 to 2007, reveals that maternal mortality peaked in 1961, right in the midst of legalized abortion. During that year, abortion caused 34 percent of maternal deaths. But by 2007 (and 8 years of an operative abortion ban), maternal mortality rates had been reduced 97.9 percent.

Weirdest pro-choice posters ever? I'm wondering if the AFP has the photo caption in this article wrong. The article is about a pro-choice protest in South Korea and shows a picture of women holding yellow posters with some text and what appears to be a drawing of a child in the womb. The caption then reads, "South Korean women hold up placards reading 'Stop a crackdown on abortion that violates women's rights.'"


It's amazing what some feminist bloggers can blame on abstinence education. According to Jill at Feministe, abstinence education is to blame for the results of this survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The survey found that overwhelming majority of young adults have sex, think using contraception is important, have used contraception in the past yet many fail to do so consistently, say they have little knowledge about contraceptives and even plan on having sex without contraception in the future. This is all apparently somehow the fault of abstinence education.

Abstinence education is probably also to blame for 59% of young women and 47% of young men thinking it is at least slightly likely they are infertile. And 18% of men thinking you can reduce the risk of pregnancy by having sex while standing. And 14% of young adults who've used birth control pills think they are effective if a woman misses 2 or 3 days in a row. And the 24% who believe wearing two condoms is more effective than one.