If abortion was not legal in America, would there be as many?

Question

there has been over 45 MILLION legal American abortions since 1973

Answer 1

its the mothers choice

Answer 2

No, of course not. We can get a good idea of what would happen by looking at Poland, a country which outlawed abortion in the 1990's. From J.C. Willke, MD:

"Under Communist rule in the ’80s, there were consistently over 100,000 abortions registered each year as compared to about 600,000 births. With the establishment of some self-government in 1990, with both the Church and doctors discouraging abortion, the numbers fell to 59,400.

Let’s list the 1990 figures and then look ahead to 1994, the second year after abortion was forbidden except for danger to the life or health of the mother, rape and fetal handicap.

Total abortions
1990: 59,417
1992: 782

Women’s deaths connected with pregnancy
1990: 90
1992: 57

Miscarriages
1990: 59,454
1992: 49,970

Cases of infanticide
1990: 31
1992: 17

Births
1990: 546,000
1992: 482,000

During this time the number of registered abortions declined to 176th of what it had been, and there was not a single death due to illegal abortion. All of these figures are exactly opposite of what International Planned Parenthood people in Poland predicted when the restrictive law was passed."

For more on Poland's example, see:
http://www.thevanguard.org/thevanguard/other_writers/willke.shtml

Also, consider Mark Crutcher's answer to the argument, "Outlawing abortion will not end it. Women will always have abortions":

"Using this sort of mindless logic, nothing should be illegal. After all, outlawing rape, armed robbery, murder, and car theft has not stopped them either. So if we are only going to implement those laws that are 100% effective, by the pro-choice gang’s reasoning we should make these things legal as well.

The reality is, laws are enacted because society has determined that the behavior in question is abhorrent, not because society believes the law can completely eradicate it."

Answer 3

I'm not sure, i mean no-there probably wouldn't be so many since 1973....but the ones that had been done would be back alley ones, probably involving lying on the kitchen table (after every ones had dinner obviously!!) whilst someone that has no idea on what they are doing using dirty knives!
Abortion is 2 easy 2 get, whatever country you live in, but surely its better to be done where its legally done?!
I dont disagree with abortion-its the individual persons choice, its often the only answer to people, but its also often just an easy way out of a one night stand!
And if you think about it, how many of the aborted foetus's would actually survive the pregnancy- how may would be dumped in hospital car parks, probably growing up to feel like they are no-bodies, or will be abused, or murdered??.... Its one of the things in life that everyone should weigh up the pro's & con's for.

Answer 4

I'm probably going to rub someone up the wrong way with my answer, so here goes..... Thank god it is legal, woman have the right to choose if they want children. I agree that it's definitely not a solution to birth control and more should be done in schools with the sex education curriculum. There are so many different circumstances i.e rape, teen pregnancy, abusive relationships to name but a few! So who decides or has the right to decide for a woman whether she can have an abortion or not?

45 million is a lot of abortions and if you think long enough about it then it is sad, because after all they were once the beginnings of a child. However, let's put it in to context, how many of those children if born would have lived in poverty or an unloving home - I reckon it's quite a few!

Answer 5

Abortion is legal for several reasons. One, because there are enough people in this country who believe its the mother's choice to carry a terminally ill fetus to full term, or to avoid the tragedy and heartbreak all together by terminating the pregnancy and trying again in due time, for a healthy one. Two, because there is controversy over whether an embryo is an actual "person" or not.

If abortion was still illegal, the 45 million abortions would be trivial in comparison to the number of senseless deaths of young women and girls, from infection and hemorrhage. You can weigh the negatives.

Answer 6

Cigarettes can kill, we still smoke.

Prohibition tried to get rid of alcohol, that did no good.

War on Drugs is a joke.

If abortion was illegal, women would still get them, only now it will be in back Ally's and kitchen tabletops.

We have never been able to legally control moral behavior. So stop. Find out why these women want to get abortions in the first place and stop it their. For instance, 1 in 4 girls is sexually molested by the age 12. How many of these girls will go on to get an abortion in their life? I bet the number would be staggering, fix that problem alone maybe the abortion rate goes down all by itself.

Answer 7

Yes, people would find many ways to have an abortion, this may include going to another country or "back street" abortions and also self harm to induce miscarriage.

BUT this in turn would mean the same about of babies would be "aborted" more medical issues would have to be address by A and E causing a strain on medical staff and more babies would be abandoned in parks, end up in care of even worse abused and killed.

Abortion may seem cruel but it also a public service that saves issues in the long run.
Think about it.

Answer 8

There would be just as many, possibly more, but instead of having a licensed Doctor perform this dangerous procedure it would be done in illegal and unsanitary conditions often by people who do not know what they are doing, killing women. This is what women rallied to defend, thier reproductive rights. It is a woman's choice to have an abortion or not. The government, men, and especially these neurotic Christians have no right to judge others. They can think what they want, be religious all you want, but lobbying for man made laws that refuse women the right to choose is totally insane.

Answer 9

If it were not legal, there would not be nearly as many. However, keep in mind that the statistic you are quoting also includes abortions that were legal back when all of them weren't - like for incest, rape, health of the mother. Most "pro-lifers", or more accurately "anti-abortionists" would agree that these and certain other issues would still be legal even if they got Roe overturned. Only the "abortion of convenience" would be illegal - those with no pressing reason other than they just decided they wanted unprotected sex without the burdens.

Answer 10

Yes, there would be just as many abortions. The sad thing is that there would be many people doing it illegally and in poor conditions. It's better that women have an option, a legal one!

Answer 11

Probably not, right now it is being used as a form of birth control. If it is illegal, they would be done in an unsafe manner. Which is fine by me as it isn't too safe for the baby so who cares about the person willing to kill it. It shouldn't be the womans choice.