A recent study published in The Lancet concludes that “unsafe abortions” are a serious global health problem. The premise reveals the anti-Life bias of the study and the short-comings of the findings. Researchers found that almost half of the estimated 55.7 million abortions worldwide each year are unsafe. The study, as CNN reports, aims to highlight the threat to women, especially in developing countries, of undergoing abortions by an untrained practitioner or in a dangerous environment. However, the study fails to acknowledge the inherent risks involved in an abortion for any woman, even a so-called “safe” abortion. More tragically, the study never mentions the devastating loss of human Life that is a part of every abortion, whether supposedly safe or unsafe. In every elective abortion, a child loses his or her Life.
The researchers, admirably focused on improving the health of women, especially in developing countries, do not consider the Life of the child. Lisa Haddad, an obstetrician-gynecologist who travels to Africa and has witnessed abortion complications in women who underwent “unsafe abortions”, describes the situation as “a public health priority.” The response to this global health crisis, according to researchers with an anti-Life bias, is to expand, legalize, and fund elective abortion. No concern for the lives of the preborn children who die in abortions, whether they are committed in dangerous substandard conditions or a pristine medical setting is demonstrated.
The study also raises questions because of the imprecise reporting on which the researchers relied. There is no database of every abortion committed worldwide, so researchers at the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute (the de facto research arm of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business) relied on data from 61 countries between 2010 and 2014. From this information, the study authors analyzed the data to determine how many of the approximately 57 million abortions were deemed “unsafe.”
Notably, the study found that “almost all abortions in developed countries were deemed safe.” The families who have lost loved ones to botched abortions in the United States might be surprised to learn that “almost all abortions” in our country are considered “safe.” Even legal abortions allegedly held to minimal safety standards are committed by a predatory abortion industry that poses grave danger to women undergoing elective abortion. Additionally, systemic abuses and neglect of basic patient safety have been seen in developed countries, such as the recent scandal involving Marie Stopes International, the U.K.’s largest abortion chain.
Glossing over the unsafe reality of the abortion industry in developed countries, the study emphasizes the lack of “safe” abortion in developing nations. While wealthy, developed nations openly advocate abortion as “a tool to end poverty,” this study conveniently suggests that developing countries need more abortion. Haddad tells CNN, “I think that there’s no question that unsafe abortion continues to be one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, and importantly this is preventable.” The international medical community ignores the real need of the women undergoing abortions in developing countries: access to opportunity, resources, and prenatal care. Abortion is the leading cause of preborn mortality, and abortion is entirely preventable. When researchers recognize the sanctity of all human Life, they will not need to conclude that the “safest” outcome is the death of 50% of their patients. As Pro-Lifers, we seek ways to help both mother and baby, striving for a truly safe outcome for all involved.