CTV reported that “three Quebec women’s groups” (ahem, those are pro-choice women’s groups) demonstrated Sunday.
…we feel that you cannot discuss women’s maternal health without also offering the possibility for women to terminate an unwanted pregnancy under safe, proper conditions,” said Alexa Conradi of the FFQ.
In Ireland the maternal mortality rate is six, that’s right… 6 a year per 100,000 live births.
I’m using Ireland as an example primarily because, at least for now, abortion is illegal except where the woman’s life is at risk. Whereas in South Africa, where abortion is available on demand up to 14 weeks, the MMR is 170. Somewhere along the way the FFQ must ask themselves what the key difference is between these two examples, since it’s obviously not the legalization of or access to abortion.
I am doubly puzzled by the final quote from this article.
“I’m a nurse by profession. Women’s health and children’s health is one of the great determinants of overall social and medical health, and Harper is going in absolutely the wrong direction. He’s putting families at risk,” said Scott Weinstein, a pro-choice demonstrator.
by 
There is a study this year that came out and compared countries with abortion and countries withouts. Countries with abortion had a higher rate and countries without had lower maternaty rates. I think it came from Chili. I’ll see if I can find it.
I think somehow he missed the boat on what makes a family…I thought generally kids were kind of required…
But he’s a nurse…so we should follow him blindly. Right?
Know where the world’s highest maternal mortality rate is? Afganistan. Also has one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates. Abortion in Afganistan is criminalised, no exceptions.
I’m not arguing that this proves banning abortion endangers women. I’m just saying it demonstrates that picking out single data-points is completly worthless. It doesn’t mean anything.
Ireland is an economically successful, modern country with an effective medical infrastructure. South Africa is, not to put too fine a point on it, a third-world mudhole where a good percentage of the population lacks access to clean water. Of course Ireland is going to have better maternal and infant mortality rates – it’s probably got better figures on every single medical metric.
Ireland is also pretty Catholic – would that stat have anything to do with the fact that Irish women might be less likely to pursue an abortion due to their faith?
“In the case of Afghanistan, decades of armed conflict, a fertility rate that ranks among the highest in the world and low levels of female educational attainment have created the highest rate of maternal mortality – 1,575 deaths for every 100,000 live births – of the 181 countries studied. In Africa, HIV alone was responsible for about 60,000 maternal deaths in 2008.” (source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/advancing-maternal-health-without-culture-clash/article1597457/ )
When pro-abortion groups are using mortality statistics to push for abortion in countries where it’s illegal/unavailable, it does mean something to demonstrate that those numbers are part of a greater death toll for all citizens in a given country.
(Africa is also predominately Christian/Muslim)
Abortion is illegal in Ireland but they have one of the BEST maternal health records in the world – much better than the UK and the rest of Europe (even when you factor in the women who leave Ireland to get abortions). Likewise Poland, with no legal abortion, has a vastly better maternal health record than neighboring Russia and Belarus, where it is legal. In Chile and El Salvador, the maternal health record has IMPROVED since abortions were made illegal whereas the worst maternal health in South America is in Guyana, where abortion is legal.
@ Suricou. So then — Are you happier if we compare Ireland to the UK? Surely you would not argue that the UK is “a third-world mudhole where a good percentage of the population lacks access to clean water”?
So — when comparing similar countries – we still find access to legal abortion does not improve maternal mortality (see above). Quite the opposite.