Life Links 4/1/10

Here's another reason not to believe the abortion estimates created by pro-choice organizations for developing nations. During a workshop put on for journalists by Ipas Nigeria, Dr. Emily Nzeribe claimed,

On the average each African woman will experience seven unsafe abortions in her reproductive lifetime"

That's monumentally absurd.

Let's take Nigeria as an example. The average number of children women have in Nigeria is nearly 5. That statistic should give a pause anyone thinking African women average 7 illegal abortions. That means the abortion ratio (abortions per 100 pregnancies) would be over 50. Yet the Guttmacher Institute's latest 'Facts' on Unwanted Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Nigeria says,

"Of the 6.8 million pregnancies that occur each year in Nigeria, 63% end in planned births, 10% in mistimed or unwanted births, 11% in induced abortion and 16% in miscarriage."

There are approximately 31.5 million women in Nigeria between the ages of 15-44. If each of those women averaged 7 abortions in their lifetime that would be 217 million abortions. Divide that by 30 years of female fertility and you get more than 7 million abortions per year. If every woman of reproductive age in Nigeria was averaging an abortion every 4.5 years (30 years divided by 7 abortions) then the number of annual abortions performed in Nigeria would be around 7 million. Yet ridiculously high estimates from the Center for Reproductive Rights claim there are annually 760,000 abortions a year in Nigeria, a country where abortion is illegal.

Lesson to learn - maybe for some pro-choice bloggers like Jill of Feministe - if a representative of a pro-choice organization makes a statistical claim about illegal abortion, don't believe them unless they actually have some hard evidence to back themselves up. Because the chances are, they're just making stuff up.


At the RH Reality Check blog, Rachel Larris has an informative post on the Lilith Fair/crisis pregnancy controversy.


Scott Roeder will be sentenced today for the murder of George Tiller. He faces 25 years to life.