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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 07/19/2005 : 00:24:03
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As President Bush considers exactly whom to nominate to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Senators Barbara Boxer and Rick Santorum both have distorted some facts about the effect of Roe v. Wade.
Boxer, a Democrat, claimed that repeal of Roe “means a minimum of 5,000 women a year will die” from illegal abortions. But that's a 69-year-old figure dating to a time before penicillin and the birth-control pill. Experts say nowhere near that many women were dying from abortion complications even in the years just before Roe made abortions legal nationwide.
On the other side of the abortion debate, Republican Santorum says that suicides by women, and also crime, "got worse, much worse" after Roe. But in fact, the female suicide rate is one-third lower now than in 1973. And the Justice Department's annual survey on crime victimization shows a 69 percent drop in property crime and a 53 percent drop in violent crime since Roe.
Read more on this here:
http://www.factcheck.org/article336.html
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 07/19/2005 00:24:28
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2005 : 22:14:45 [Permalink]
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While you are saying that both side are incorrect in their assertions, I'll agree. But I would like to point out, that much of the pro-life movement also advocates the only teaching about human sexuality ought to be that of abstinence. A repeal of RvW may leave the door open to more of this moral grand-standing of which the religious right is so fond.
A balanced education with regard to human sexuality and free access to contraceptive measures will reduce the numbers of abortions performed.
Something else I would like to point out, how would a repeal of RvW affect the ability of a woman to receive an abortion if she needs one for medical reasons. Which becomes more important, the life of the mother or the life of the child? Ethically, which life has more value to society? Do we stop the life of a contributing member of society to make way for an unknown? RvW, leaves this decision firmly where it belongs, with the individual who must risk her life, take responsibility for the pregnancy, and the only person that the decision will affect in any real fashion.
Sorry, one of my soap box issues. |
...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying and vile!"
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
They (Women Marines) don't have a nickname, and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere, at a Marine Post. They inherit the traditions of the Marines. They are Marines.
LtGen Thomas Holcomb, USMC
Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1943
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2005 : 22:43:47 [Permalink]
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I am in total agreement with your soapboxing. I think RvW was a brilliant decision, as it put the woman's life first, but allowed for the banning of third-trimester abortions and regulation of second-trimester abortions when the women's life is not in danger. Abortion is not a black and white issue, as so many would like to insist. The RvW ruling faced those complexities head-on and was both sophisticated and humane.
I posted the above because, as a skeptic, I oppose deception in the media of any kind, even if it supports a cause I favor. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 07/19/2005 22:44:57 |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2005 : 23:06:29 [Permalink]
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| Ah, well, then, I'll tuck the soapbox back out of the way. Yes, I agree that both sides ought to present valid information rather than unsubstantiated claims. I will add one caveat, I don't think we can trully tell the numbers of women who died from illegal abortions. There are multiple reasons for this, first, the woman who had an illegal abortion may not have sought medical attention if something went completely wrong for fear of prosecution. Second, would that information have been necessarily correctly recorded. I can't seem to think of a third right now, I'll probably think of it on the bus tomorrow. |
...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying and vile!"
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
They (Women Marines) don't have a nickname, and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere, at a Marine Post. They inherit the traditions of the Marines. They are Marines.
LtGen Thomas Holcomb, USMC
Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1943
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