Dear Colleague:

One of the stock arguments of the radical feminists is that legalizing
abortion not only reduces the number of women dying from abortions, but it
also cuts the total number of abortions.  From time to time pro-abortion
politicians even piously lecture pro-lifers on this point, saying that if
pro-lifers were truly pro-life, they would support abortion legalization.
The problem with this argument, recently rehashed in an article in
"Women's eNews," is that it is false.  The article on the feminist website
dredges up some old, questionable numbers from South of the Border, mixed
it with an unhealthy dollop of social engineering, and argues that
abortion-on-demand would save lives in Latin America.  Even the article's
own sources don't support that conclusion.

Steven W. Mosher
President


PRI Weekly Briefing
6 December 2004
Vol. 6 / No. 38

Would Legalization Reduce Abortion in Latin America?

By Joseph A. D'Agostino

International pro-abortion advocates sometimes argue that legalizing
abortion in countries where it is now illegal would actually reduce the
number of abortions.  This myth was pushed in an article called "Illegal
Abortions Rampant in Latin America" by Jen Ross, first posted on "Women's
eNews" November 28 (www.womensenews.org).  Ross also calls for a
comprehensive social revolution on the grounds that this would lead to a
lower number of abortions.  The article and one of its primary sources
provide an instructive example of how anti-life and anti-family groups
combine faulty statistics, anecdotal evidence, and non sequiturs to
promote their agenda.

Ross regrets that abortion is currently illegal in Latin America outside
of Cuba and Puerto Rico, but goes on to make it clear that for feminists
the abortion issue is not just about terminating a pregnancy.  It is about
a complete revamping of the relationship between Latin men and women of
the kind that has produced such disastrous results in the West since the
1960s.  "Reducing unwanted pregnancies requires cultural changes, Mariana
Schkolnik, a consultant with the social development division of the U.N.'s
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, is quoted as
saying.  "This includes adjusting traditional gender roles, erasing the
social stigma attached to abortion, and changing outdated family laws,"
the article says.  Ross attributes Latin American abortions to gender
inequality: "In analyzing why-despite tough legal penalties, health risks
and the predominant influence of the Catholic Church-Latin America's
abortion rates so high [sic], some people put the blame on gender
inequality."  But no one disputes that gender inequality is on the decline
in Latin America while the abortion rate is higher than ever before, or
close to it.  Go figure.

Ross also tries to couch her position as an inherently pro-life one.  "But
legalizing abortion is also key, says Schkolnik, to prevent so many women
from dying," Ross reports.  "She points out that where abortion is
legal-such [sic] Europe and North America-the percentage of abortions
performed has actually gone down.  She says that's because legalization is
usually accompanied by informed access to public health, education and
family planning."  These numbers, of course, fail to take into account the
tens of millions of abortions caused by abortifacient contraceptives, the
so-called morning-after pill, and RU-486.

Even more to the point, so far in Latin America, there is no proof that
increased access to contraception and education has led to lower abortion
rates.  A 1996 report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute called "An
Overview of Clandestine Abortion in Latin America," relied upon heavily by
Ross for her article, says, "Improved contraceptive services and improved
contraceptive use can go a long way toward reducing levels of unplanned
pregnancy in Latin America.  There is evidence, for example, that abortion
rates may be leveling off or declining in parts of Colombia and Mexico,
two countries in which contraceptive use is widespread.  Nevertheless,
studies indicate that even where family planning services are available
and accessible, many women have difficulty using methods consistently and
effectively, and contraceptive discontinuation and failure rates can be
high."  Notice the phrasing, that abortion rates "may" be declining in
"parts" of countries.  Other studies have indicated that abortion rates
actually rise with the introduction of contraception, because of the
"contraceptive mentality" that this fosters.

Regardless, the institute says abortions have become safer for Latin
American women (though not for Latin American children): "Most health
professionals believe that the risks of complications from induced
abortion are lower in Latin America today than they were in the past.
Reasons for the reduced risk are that more women have access to safe
medical procedures, more women are aware of the need to seek medical
treatment quickly when a complication arises and more practitioners-even
those without medical training-routinely prescribe antibiotics for their
patients."

The article also claims that abortion rates in Europe, where abortion is
legal, are lower than in Latin America, where it is illegal-and suggests
that this proves that legalization will reduce abortions.  But Carlos
Polo, director of PRI's Latin American office located in Lima, Peru,
scoffs at this claim, rejecting the feminist abortion statistics as
greatly exaggerated.  The Guttmacher report says there were 271,000
abortions in Peru in 1989 and an estimated four million in Latin America
as a whole in 1996.  "Feminists now say there are 410,000 a year in Peru,"
said Polo.  "They take the real number and multiply it by ten to account
for the abortions women won't admit to.  They have no proof."  According
to the Peruvian Health Ministry, says Polo, there are only about 30,000
abortions a year in Peru, less than 10% of the number claimed by the
feminists.

The Women's eNews article also says that 5,000 women die from abortion
each year in Latin America.  Polo thinks this highly unlikely, noting that
in Peru, according to the Health Ministry, 542 Peruvian women died in 2002
from complications related to pregnancy and only 5% of those deaths
occurred as a result of induced abortion.  So a total of 27 women died in
"one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with what the feminists
say is one of the highest abortion rates in the region," he said.  Peru,
with 28 million people, has about 6% of Latin America's population.  This
suggests that the actual number of Latin American women who die each year
from abortion is closer to 500 than 5,000.

The Guttmacher Institute boasts that a "culture of contraception" has
taken hold in certain Latin American countries such as Mexico and Colombia
and is becoming more entrenched everywhere in the region.  PRI and its
Latin American office will continue to work to rebuild the Culture of Life
there and elsewhere-including trumpeting the common-sense truth that
legalizing abortions will lead to more of them.

Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.

PRI
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USA

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Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
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