MYTH: Women are using abortion as a method of birth control.
In fact, half of all women getting abortions report that contraception was used during the month they became pregnant.1 Some of these couples had used the method improperly; some had forgotten or neglected to use it on the particular occasion they conceived; and some had used a contraceptive that failed. No contraceptive method prevents pregnancy 100% of the time.
If abortion were used as a primary method of birth control, a typical woman would have at least two or three pregnancies per year - 30 or more during her lifetime. In fact, most women who have abortions have had no previous abortions (52%) or only one previous abortion (26%).5 Considering that most women are fertile for over 30 years, and that birth control is not perfect, the likelihood of having one or two unintended pregnancies is very high.
MYTH: Women have abortions for selfish or frivolous reasons.
The decision to have an abortion is rarely simple. Most women base their decision on several factors, the most common being lack of money and/or unreadiness to start or expand their families due to existing responsibilities. Many feel that the most responsible course of action is to wait until their situation is more suited to childrearing; 66% plan to have children when they are older, financially able to provide necessities for them, and/or in a supportive relationship with a partner so their children will have two parents.8 Others wanted to get pregnant but developed serious medical problems, learned that the fetus had severe abnormalities, or experienced some other personal crisis. About 13,000 women each year have abortions because they have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.1
MYTH: Women are often forced into having abortions they do not really want.
Some women say that pressure from a husband, partner, or parent was one of several reasons they chose abortion, but only about 1% give that reason as the "most important" one in making their decision.9 Conversely, some women who do not want to continue their pregnancies are pressured to do so by family members, friends, or fear of social stigma. Pre-abortion options counseling is designed to determine whether a woman is fully comfortable with her abortion decision, and if she is not, she is encouraged to wait until she has had a chance to consider her options more fully.
MYTH: Many women come to regret their abortions later.
Research indicates that relief is the most common emotional response following abortion, and that psychological distress appears to be greatest before, rather than after, an abortion.
There are undoubtedly some women who, in hindsight, wish that they had made different choices, and the majority would prefer never to have become pregnant when the circumstances were not right for them. When a wanted pregnancy is ended (for medical reasons, for example) women may experience a sense of loss and grief. As with any major change or decision involving loss, a crisis later in life sometimes leads to a temporary resurfacing of sad feelings surrounding the abortion. Women at risk for poor post-abortion adjustment are those who do not get the support they need, or whose abortion decisions are actively opposed by people who are important to them.10 Learn more about post-abortion issues
References
Guttmacher Institute. Facts in Brief - Induced Abortion. 2003. www.agi-usa.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
Finer LB, Henshaw SK. Abortion incidence and services in the United States in 2000. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 2003; 35: 6-15.
Guttmacher Institute. State Facts About Abortion. 2003. www.agi-usa.org/pubs/sfaa.html
Jones RK, Darroch JE, Henshaw SK. Patterns in the socioeconomic characteristics of women obtaining abortions in 2000-2001. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 2002; 34: 226-235.
Elam-Evans LD, Strauss LT, Herndon J, Parker WY, Whitehead S, Berg CJ. Abortion surveillance-United States, 1999. Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report 2002; 51 (SS09): 1-28. Abortion Surveillance -- United States, 1999
Henshaw SK. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives 1998; 30(1): 24-29 & 46.
Personal communication, Archdiocese of Washington (based on statistics in the 2003 edition of The Kennedy Directory: The Official Catholic Directory).
Henshaw SK, Kost K. Abortion patients in 1994-1995: Characteristics and contraceptive use. Family Planning Perspectives 1996; 28(4): 140-147 &158.
Torres A, Forrest JD. Why do women have abortions? Family Planning Perspectives 1988; 20(4): 169-176.
Psychological Responses Following Abortion. Reproductive Choice and Abortion: A Resource Packet. Washington, DC: American Pyschological Association, 1990.
Statistical information in this fact sheet is based on research by the Guttmacher Institute and other members of the National Abortion Federation.
If you don’t consider your opinion to be worth anything, why should anyone take you seriously? If you are willing to subsume your personal views to whatever a national majority wants, why should anyone bother to discuss political matters with you?
What you did by asking me that question and demanding that I answer it is indicative of the real problem. I don't think that certain issues should even be a consideration of government, and yet you're insisting that I present them for argument. Say you're talking with your wife about buying a new house, a new car, taking a new job half-way across the country, adopt a kid, or some other major decision, and your wife demands that you choose lottery numbers, help her decide which conditioner works best in her hair, choose a temperature setting for the freezer, select a particular shade of "white" to paint a wall. Suppose she says "If you let me pick 4 6 7 on the pick three, I'll agree to you buying a new Jeep".
I don't want to argue about minor issues, I want to focus on something important - the electoral reform we've been discussing for the past few posts, for example. If someone else thinks those issues are important, let THEM discuss such issues! Don't force me to squander my political power and authority on issues that won't affect me however they turn out - let me abstain on that trivial position so I can focus on the things that ARE important to me.
The trivial issues I'm referring to are held by a small minority of the people. No majority of the people think the issues are important, and yet, a majority of people are going to end up lending their support to these issues through party ties. This should not happen. These asinine issues should not be elevated in importance, they should be generally ignored. But we can't do that with a two-party system. These issues are attached at the party level, so even if a majority of Americans want these issues killed off, they gain the same level of support as the party they are attached to.
__________________
__________________
We work together every damn day. --Jon Stewart
Trump is a chump, Obama is as bad, Palin's an idiot, who the hay to vote for? pssht, this crap's looking pretty bad. Maybe we can import a president in from China like everything else.
Trump is a chump, Obama is as bad, Palin's an idiot, who the hay to vote for? pssht, this crap's looking pretty bad. Maybe we can import a president in from China like everything else.
China will likely be choosing our president sooner than anyone thinks. A couple of days ago the AP reported on an IMF report that says Red China will replace the U.S. as world?s biggest economy in the year 2016.
Without taking social issues into consideration my ideal president would be a combination of Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs, Aaron Feuerstein of Maldin Mills and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rowe has the people skills needed to be a good campaigner and he can empathize with work-a-day Americans due to his experience with Dirty Jobs. He also seems to have good common sense when dealing with bureaucratic and environmental issues. But considering some of the things he has let himself be talked into doing I don?t know if I?d want him negotiating with people like Putin and the nutjob running Iran.
Aaron Feuerstein has personal integrity that has been sorely lacking in American business for decades. He knows that people and society are ever bit as important as profit is.
Netanyahu knows how to deal with his country?s enemies (and he is an American since his mother was an American so, according to the libs, he?d be a natural born U.S. citizen even if he wasn?t born in the U.S.A.).
China will likely be choosing our president sooner than anyone thinks. A couple of days ago the AP reported on an IMF report that says Red China will replace the U.S. as world’s biggest economy in the year 2016.
It's about fricken time. They've got 4 times our population; all things being equal, they should be 4 times the size of our own.
You do realize that until the average chinese worker makes as much as the average american, they will maintain an advantage in the labor market and we'll continue to import their crap and ship our jobs over there, right?
__________________
We work together every damn day. --Jon Stewart
It sure looks new for a 50 year old document..........cough ........cough
The real giggle here is every Hawaiian from Governor on down attests to it's validity (Republicans too) yet last night's news said 45% of Republicans believe him to be foreign born.
You best be nice to our fearless leader lest he hear you're traveling to his backyard in Baltimore.
__________________
I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
It's about fricken time. They've got 4 times our population; all things being equal, they should be 4 times the size of our own.
You do realize that until the average chinese worker makes as much as the average american, they will maintain an advantage in the labor market and we'll continue to import their crap and ship our jobs over there, right?
while generally true it is a little more complex then that, China doesn't let their currency be free, so in essence they are holding down the price of their currency giving them an economic edge by keeping their currency low, but it is playing with fire and if it goes bad it could become the next USSR as it collapses due to an unsustainable model.
I'm pretty certain they realize it's an unsustainable position but that they intended it for the short term only. They have a powerhouse economy now and would lose their customers fast unless they play nice with the Yen.
I get a big kick out of how Capitalism saved the sole remaining communist country of any importance. Whatever China is right now is far from Communism in most regards. They've equaled or exceeded the economic rise of Japan.
__________________
__________________
I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
Linear Mode
