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As Americans have learned more about the devastating impact of
abortion, we've seen our country become more pro-life. But we're still
a long way from building a culture of life that welcomes every child.
To do that, we need to demolish the most pervasive myths about
abortion. A new book titled The Cost of 'Choice': Women Evaluate the
Impact of Abortion is a valuable tool in that effort. In a series of
thought-provoking essays, women from all walks of life tackle those
myths head-on.
Myth number one: Abortion is first and foremost a woman's issue. Again
and again, the writers in this book make the case that abortion is an
issue that hurts all of us, not least by pitting men, women, and
children against each other. We've reached a point, the writers
explain, where instead of providing support and solutions to women in
crisis pregnancies, society often turns against them. The book is full
of quotes and stories from women who aborted against their will because
other people expected them to do so.
Also noteworthy here is an essay titled "The Feminist Case against
Abortion," in which Serrin M. Foster points out, "It is a man-abortion
rights activist Larry Lader . . . who credits himself with guiding a
reluctant [Betty] Friedan, the first president of NOW to make abortion
a serious issue for the organization." Foster explains how Lader and
Dr. Bernard Nathanson worked together to promote the abortion agenda to
the feminist movement.
That leads to myth number two. Foster adds, "Dr. Nathanson, who later
became a pro-life activist, said that he and Lader were able to
persuade Friedan that abortion was a civil rights issue, basing much of
their argument on the claim that tens of thousands of women died from
illegal abortions each year. Nathanson later admitted that they had
simply made up the numbers." In other words, those who claim that
repealing Roe would take us back to a Dark Age of women dying in back
alleys are basing their argument on a lie.
Which takes us to myth number three: the myth that legalized abortion
automatically means safe abortion. Again, the writers in The Cost of
'Choice' beg to differ. Attorney Denise Burke writes, "With the
abortion industry's own statistics as a basis, it is clear that
thousands of women are being injured by abortion each year and that
some of them die." And then there's the physical aftermath of abortion,
examined most thoroughly here by Dr. Angela Lanfranchi in an essay on
the much-maligned link between abortion and breast cancer.
To enumerate all the abortion-related myths dealt with here could take
all day. But really, they're all part of one greater myth: the myth
that abortion is good for women. As this book demonstrates, nothing
could be further from the truth. Wilberforce Forum Fellow PaigeComstock
Cunningham of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity sums it up
well: "Women are simply offered abortion, the quick fix, while
genuinely meaningful solutions to their social or personal problems are
left unexplored. . . . As long as abortion on demand remains legal and
a constitutional right, women will continue to be isolated and
exploited." Please, don't tell us abortion is good for women.
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