Lies, damn lies and abortion statistics
The estimated figures of between 200,000 and 1.2 million induced illegal abortions occurring in the US before Roe v Wade in 1972 would appear on close scrutiny to be very exaggerated.
There is also a question mark over the figures of between 5,000 to 10,000 women dying annually from illegal abortions.
Dr Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion (now NARAL), and former operator of the largest abortion clinics in the world, was one of the originators of the popular cant "5,000 to 10,000 deaths".
After he converted to the pro-life movement he revealed this deception: "I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose others did, too, but why go out of our way to correct with honest statistics?
"The over-riding concern was to get the anti-abortion laws eliminated and inflating maternal deaths was a persuasive piece of propaganda."
Dr Christopher Tieze of the Population Council, the country's most experienced abortion statistician, stated that the illegal abortion rate in the US was about 100 deaths for every 100,000 abortions in the mid-1960s.
The US Government's Centre For Disease Control (CDC) estimates that about 150 women died annually from illegal abortions; this results in a total of about 150,000 annual illegal abortions before Roe v Wade. These figures from reliable official sources conflict with those quoted in Dan Buckley's article.
Since the legalisation of abortion in the US the total number of legal abortions to the year 2000 was 41,493,800 with the year 2000 alone registering 1,373,700 abortions a holocaust of unimaginable proportions.
Jim O'Sullivan,
'Czardas',
Newtown,
Bantry,
Co Cork.
