Group neglects damages done by Roe v. Wade

The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance was right in noting that Roe v. Wade is a reminder of several dangerous practices (“Roe v. Wade anniversary reminds of the dangers of illegal abortion,” Feb. 1).\nThe first is believing that one of the dangers of abortion is in its previously illegal nature, despite the pro-choice’s rhetoric to the contrary. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL (which led the charge to legalize abortion), now admits that the statistics regarding illegally performed abortions were fictional and outright lies used to support their cause: “We aroused sympathy to sell our program of permissive abortions by fabricating the number of illegal abortions done annually in the US. The actual figure was approaching 100,000, but the figure we gave the media repeatedly was 1 million. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed the media was 10,000.” Most abortions were performed by unscrupulous doctors, not hacks with coat hangers. Now many of the same doctors simply perform them legally, and it is still a money-driven business.\nStudies abound about the medical complications of abortions: 10 percent suffer medical complications; 48 percent have abortion-related complications in subsequent, wanted pregnancies, losing 100,000 wanted babies each year; women have a 58 percent greater chance of dying from complications later. Not to mention the psychological factors: 44 percent complain of nervous disorders and 10 percent are classified with “serious psychiatric complications.” Just looking at the increased suicide rates following abortion alone, more women die now from legalized abortion than when it was illegal. Even the original Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) now admits her case was a fraud and campaigns, with the affidavits of a 1,000 women, on the detrimental effects of abortion. Given that abortion has increased 1,300 percent since legalization, and the fact that numerous medical and psychiatric problems still arise, it is quite a stretch to say that legalization of abortion “preserve[s] the health and safety of women.” It is curious that a feminist group would celebrate that much damage done to women, legalized under false pretenses.\nBrandon Sieg\nIU faculty