ABORTION FACTS

Abortion

  • Abortion is the direct killing of a baby in a mother’s womb by ripping the baby apart, dismembering the baby, injecting a lethal substance into the baby or other similar means. 

  • The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in all 50 states. 

  • Abortion is legal in all 50 states for any reason for the full nine months of pregnancy.

  • Only one abortion procedure – partial-birth abortion – is prohibited in the United States. 

  • An estimated 50 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973.

  • Over 3,500 unborn babies die from abortion in the United States every day. In Wisconsin, 23 abortion deaths occur each day. 

  • Over 92% of abortions are performed for social or “other” reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby. Less than 1% of abortions are performed because the mother’s life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest. 

  • 64% of women report feeling pressured into having an abortion; women also report being forced to abort. 

  • 48% of abortions are repeat abortions -- the woman has already had one or more abortions.

  • Approximately 80% of abortions are performed on unmarried women between the ages of 18-34. 

  • Women experience significant psychological and physical problems post abortion.

  • 36% of all abortions in the United States are of African-American babies. African-Americans comprise 13% of the American population. 

  • Fathers have no legal rights to prevent their unborn children from being aborted. 

  • Babies suffer significant pain during an abortion procedure.

  • Over 2 million couples each year are waiting to adopt a baby.

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    Over 92% of abortions are performed for social or "other" reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby. Less than 1% of abortions are performed because the mother's life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest.

     

    Did You Know That an Unborn Child Can Feel Excruciating Pain During an Abortion?

    Unborn babies can’t verbally express the pain they experience but all biological indicators suggest they are capable of feeling pain by at least 20 weeks after fertilization.

    The evidence of fetal pain 
    With the advent of sonograms and live-action ultrasound images, neonatologists and nurses are able to see unborn babies at 20 weeks gestation or younger react physically to outside stimuli such as sound, light and touch. The sense of touch is so acute that even a single human hair drawn across an unborn child’s palm causes the baby to make a fist.

    Surgeons entering the womb to perform corrective procedures on tiny unborn children have seen those babies flinch, jerk and recoil from sharp objects and incisions.

    “The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite
    early by unborn babies.”

    - Steven Calvin, perinatologist, University of Minnesota

    Given the unborn child’s ability to feel pain, imagine how excruciating their pain must be during an abortion!
    “At 20 weeks, the fetal brain has the full complement of brain cells present in adulthood, ready and waiting to receive pain signals from the body, and their electrical activity can be recorded by standard Electroencephalography (EEG).”

    - Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist, University of Toronto

    “An unborn child at 20 weeks gestation ‘is fully capable of experiencing pain… Without question, [abortion] is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure.”

    - Robert J. White, M.D., PhD., professor of 
    neurosurgery, Case Western University

    In fact, unborn babies probably feel pain more intensely than adults. This is a “uniquely vulnerable time since the pain system is fully established, yet the higher level pain-modifying system has barely begun to develop.”

    - Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist
    University of Toronto

    “On occasion we need to administer anesthesia directly to the fetus, because even at these early gestational ages the fetus moves away from the pain of stimulation.”

    - David Birnbach, M.D., president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia 
    and Perinatology and self-described as ‘pro-choice” in 
    testimony before the U.S. Congress

    Abortion at 20 weeks
    Despite the unborn child’s advanced development at 20 weeks gestation, the following painful abortion methods are used:

     
    • Dilation and Evacuation (D&E): Sharp-edged instruments are used to grasp, twist and tear the baby’s body into pieces, which are removed from the womb.

    • Prostaglandin instillation: The injection of chemicals into the amniotic sac induces violent labor and the birth of a child usually too young to survive. Often salt toxin is first injected to ensure the baby is not delivered alive.

    Given the evidence that unborn babies experience pain, compassionate people are realizing that abortion is an inhumane and intolerable brutality against defenseless human beings. Wisconsin Right to Life is in the forefront of informing Wisconsin citizens about the humanity of the unborn child and ways they can assist in protecting the lives of these precious children.

     
     

       
     
     
     

    Copyright 2010 Wisconsin Right To Life