Would making Abortion Illegal help?

[ChristRocket]

Through my study throughout the years I’ve come to the realization that making things illegal doesn’t always help the situation. In fact, sometimes the situation worsens.

For example, making guns illegal, doesn’t necessarily (and is quite evident in places like Japan) reduce homicide rate or suicide rates. In fact, those rates are much higher in Japan. And-not only that, but when making things like Guns illegal, it generally only hinders those that get them legally now and allows for criminals who get them illegal already, to flourish-especially in places like America where we have open borders. Filtering out guns on an island country like Japan is a little bit easier to do.

Drugs-is the same story. Since the War on Drugs, the statistics for the amount of drug users hasn’t reduced at all and drug cartels have only become more powerful.
I’m personally

However, the point in this thread is not to argue gun control or drug use, it’s to ask if whether or not making abortion illegal would help.

I see it on a completley different moral scale than the former mentioned issues, whereas we don’t make murder legal because it’s morally wrong. (I don’t think that people would go out and just start murdering, if it all the sudden became legal to do so. Although the legal and life changing consequences are most definitely a deterrant.)

If Abortion became illegal-I think that the issue is, that people would still go through with it-without the proper (as proper as you can get in this situation) medical setting to prevent infection etc. and we would see a lot more “Coat-hanger” abortions.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Shin]

Well it doesn’t apply like that to abortions.

When abortions are illegal, they become very rare, and maternal pregnancy survival rates go up.

Having an abortion doesn’t have the same attraction as drug addiction.

 

[smichhertz]

Hi ChristRocket,

Great thread discussion! Thanks for bringing it up!

If Abortion became illegal-I think that the issue is, that people would still go through with it-without the proper (as proper as you can get in this situation) medical setting to prevent infection etc. and we would see a lot more “Coat-hanger” abortions.

In 1972 (the year before abortion was legalized), there were less abortions that year than there were states in the U.S. Furthermore - illegal abortions were done in doctor’s offices, not out in the streets. We may see a slight increase in “coat hanger” abortions but nothing significant.

Yes, people will still do it. People do illegal stuff all the time. The question is whether or not the behavior is something the state wants to encourage or allow. This is a clear cut case of not only an immoral act, but an unacceptable and unsustainable practice in this country. There are certainly cases where we don’t want to make immoral things illegal. There is definitely a difference, but abortion is something that should most certainly be made illegal. It involves the direct killing of an innocent life.

Hope that helps!

 

[robwar]

Through my study throughout the years I’ve come to the realization that making things illegal doesn’t always help the situation. In fact, sometimes the situation worsens.

For example, making guns illegal, doesn’t necessarily (and is quite evident in places like Japan) reduce homicide rate or suicide rates. In fact, those rates are much higher in Japan. And-not only that, but when making things like Guns illegal, it generally only hinders those that get them legally now and allows for criminals who get them illegal already, to flourish-especially in places like America where we have open borders. Filtering out guns on an island country like Japan is a little bit easier to do.

Drugs-is the same story. Since the War on Drugs, the statistics for the amount of drug users hasn’t reduced at all and drug cartels have only become more powerful.
I’m personally

However, the point in this thread is not to argue gun control or drug use, it’s to ask if whether or not making abortion illegal would help.

I see it on a completley different moral scale than the former mentioned issues, whereas we don’t make murder legal because it’s morally wrong. (I don’t think that people would go out and just start murdering, if it all the sudden became legal to do so. Although the legal and life changing consequences are most definitely a deterrant.)

If Abortion became illegal-I think that the issue is, that people would still go through with it-without the proper (as proper as you can get in this situation) medical setting to prevent infection etc. and we would see a lot more “Coat-hanger” abortions.

Let me know what you think.

Well, there is stealing and murders and both are illegal. Using your logic here, wouldn’t we have more stealing and murders if they were legal? Any type of behavior, when it is legal the natural result of that is you will have more of that behavior. You can’t compare abortion to drug use in that in some sections of thinking that having drug use legal will solve problems because in areas where something like drug use does become legal or is in a “free zone” you end up with more drug use and the associated problems. When abortion was illegal in the states that is was illegal, there were less abortions and less associated problems with it. There is no such thing as a “safe” abortion. First of all, it is murder, it is murder in a women’s womb, that womb has to violated in order to chop the baby up to kill it. If so called drugs are use, they are so powerful that the woman’s body end up suffering for it for the rest of her life. The lie that if abortion is legal, it will be rare and safe is just that, a lie. When any behavior is legal, you get more of it and if that behavior has negative consequences, you will get more of that as well. Legality doesn’t take negative side effects away from behaviors that are immoral, evil and wrong.

 

[Joe_5859]

Yes, it would help. Would it make abortion disappear completely? No. But that’s not what you asked in your thread title.

Most people are not inclined to go out of their way to break the law. Take a look at the clientele: young women who have an unplanned pregnancy. This is not exactly the demographic that is going to set up a criminal underground in order to procure abortions.

The law functions as a teacher. There is a reason that abortion rates skyrocketed exponentially as soon as it became legal. Those same rates would plummet if it were made illegal. It may not plummet as much or as fast as it rose (due to the fact that we now have several generations who are so accustomed to abortion being legal that they wouldn’t necessarily quickly come to embrace the idea that the act is immoral). But I cannot see how it wouldn’t drop dramatically.

 

[bisco]

i disagree with the o/p’s premise. and i also disagree with his ‘facts’ regarding guns and drugs. i think making drugs legal will increase their use, and i think making guns illegal will decrease their use. and this was what happened when alcohol went from legal to illegal to legal. you can’t stop everything with laws, but they are a deterrent.

at the same time, we should move the funding to pre natal support, orphanage and adoption help.

 

[Hodegetria]

I do think it would help save babies’ lives. Because abortion is legal, it’s easily available on demand.

Many women who go through with abortion do not really WANT to have an abortion, they are aborting because they feel it’s their ONLY option, or they are being pressured into doing it by their parents or the baby’s father or their career…any number of reasons.

These women are very torn, it’s not an easy decision to make. By making abortion illegal, then they have a very big reason NOT to do it, which will save lives of unborn babies.

That being said, I don’t think it will EVER be illegal, as there’s too much money to be made. The anti-life movement has a huge pro-abortion lobbyists’ fund, and Planned Parenthood takes almost half a BILLION dollars per year in taxpayer money. Because it’s a big money business, we have crazy laws that allow a minor to have an abortion without their parents’ consent, yet that same minor can’t even get an aspirin from the school nurse without same consent… That’s POWER.

 

[FreeEver]

Yes, definitely would decrease the number of abortions in the U.S.

Come on U.S. Supreme Court quit dodging the lower federal court up holdings of abortion and overturn Roe vs. Wade, You have in your arsenal 21st century medical technology which was not available 40 years ago.

God Bless and Peace to all.

 

[Book_Worm]

There have been several studies that show that there are MORE abortions in countries where it is illegal than in countries where it is not. The availability of birth control in those countries is probably a factor.

The big difference is in maternal mortality when it is illegal.

I sincerely doubt that there were fewer than 50 abortions in the U.S. in 1972, as a PP stated. In 1972 there were 39 reported maternal deaths from abortions. In 1940 there were 1400. The difference is attributed to the discovery of penicillin. Since most women who had illegal abortions did not develop infections, the number of abortions would have been a multiple of that figure.

 

[fred_conty]

It is intrinsically evil. Drugs and alcohol are not intrinsically evil.

Pope Benedict XVI, stated: “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”

For this reason, abortion and euthanasia are threshold issues. A “threshold issue” is one which does not allow more than one moral outcome. Threshold issues are fundamental and the Church’s position is morally binding.

 

[Ignatius]

Through my study throughout the years I’ve come to the realization that making things illegal doesn’t always help the situation. In fact, sometimes the situation worsens…

You may have missed this point in your study. Since abortion was made legal, there have been over 55,000,000 innocent pre-born children killed in their own mothers womb.
numberofabortions.com/

Additionally, numbers from the US Dept. of Vital Statistics in the period immediately prior to Roe V Wade reports 859 total pregnancy-related deaths; 133 of them due to abortion. Due to the secrecy of the Abortion Industry, numbers of abortion related deaths are now unavailable. Why is the Abortion Industry hiding the number of abortion related deaths?

There are also a great number of problems that women experience after having abortions.

Here is more detailed information on the above: heartsunitedforlife.com/?page_id=121

 

[1ke]

It is also extremely important to note that maternal deaths from legal and illegal abortions(yes, abortion was legal in some states even before Roe v Wade) had practically disappeared by the 1960s due to the advent of penicillin to fight infections.

Also of note is that Bernard Nathanson and his cohorts simply MADE UP their statistics on “back alley” and “coat-hanger” abortions, a fact they now freely admit.

 

[robwar]

There have been several studies that show that there are MORE abortions in countries where it is illegal than in countries where it is not. The availability of birth control in those countries is probably a factor.

The big difference is in maternal mortality when it is illegal.

I sincerely doubt that there were fewer than 50 abortions in the U.S. in 1972, as a PP stated. In 1972 there were 39 reported maternal deaths from abortions. In 1940 there were 1400. The difference is attributed to the discovery of penicillin. Since most women who had illegal abortions did not develop infections, the number of abortions would have been a multiple of that figure.

I question your so called “studies” and who they are by. These kinds of statements fall into the hands of pro-murder abortionists.

 

[AyJSimon]

I doubt very much that criminalizing abortion would be a net benefit. Whatever were the nation’s sexual mores pre-1972, few could disagree that they’ve changed. And I don’t see them reverting to whatever they were in 1972 if we were to criminalize abortion.

 

[Sunbreak]

Making abortions illegal would cut down on the amount of abortions that were done since it is so easy to get them now. However, I would not agree with those who said that illegal abortions were all done in doctor offices in the past. Women tried to do it themselves or sometimes people with a little bit of medical training would do this. We also don’t have statistics on how many women were killed by boyfriends who didn’t like them being pregnant and we don’t know how many women committed suicide because they were pregnant and didn’t want to be.

 

[QuasiCatholic]

133 of them due to abortion

. Due to the secrecy of the Abortion Industry, numbers of abortion related deaths are now unavailable. Why is the Abortion Industry hiding the number of abortion related deaths?

a) I can’t find any record of an office called the “U.S. Department of Vital Statistics.” Can you link to their website or to a federal document that mentions them? Maybe they’re an office that no longer exists?

b) There is a “National Vital Statistics System” which is overseen by the CDC, I believe. And, according to a report from the CDC, the reason for the lack of abortion fatality data isn’t “the secrecy of the Abortion Industry,” it’s state health departments choosing not to submit the information to the national database. Quote: "Although national case-fatality rates (the number of abortion-related deaths per 100,000 reported legal induced abortions) have been published for 1972–1997, this measure could not be calculated with CDC data for 1998–2007; because a substantial number of abortions have been documented in states that did not report to CDC during 1998–2007 (3,12), the total number of abortions was not available as the rate denominator."

 

[Ignatius]

a) I can’t find any record of an office called the “U.S. Department of Vital Statistics.”

Try Google, it is a “Search Engine” used to research information on the “Internet”.
Use the search term “us department of vital records”. It is now part of the CDC.

 

[robwar]

I doubt very much that criminalizing abortion would be a net benefit. Whatever were the nation’s sexual mores pre-1972, few could disagree that they’ve changed. And I don’t see them reverting to whatever they were in 1972 if we were to criminalize abortion.

What kind of thinking is this? So we legalize murder of babies which is what abortion is and justify it because society has become immoral? So evil is excused because society is immoral. Abortion is murder, it kills a baby and harms and destroys a woman, but that’s ok according to this thinking because people are just going to do it anyway. God help us.

 

[Personanongrata]

Abortion will never be made illegal because doing so only impacts poor women. Those women with money will still have access to safe abortions in the comfort of their doctors offices.

 

[AyJSimon]

What kind of thinking is this? So we legalize murder of babies which is what abortion is and justify it because society has become immoral? So evil is excused because society is immoral. Abortion is murder, it kills a baby and harms and destroys a woman, but that’s ok according to this thinking because people are just going to do it anyway. God help us.

No, I’m saying that we currently live in a world where abortions will be sought by women whether they are criminalized or not. If you grant that premise, the question becomes, what’s more preferable - a world where a woman can obtain an abortion safely, without fear of criminal prosecution, or one that might not be as safe, and where she runs the risk of being arrested?

I’m not a fan of abortion. In a perfect world, people would treat having sex as a far more consequential act, and by extension, be more willing to accept the consequences of it. But that’s not the world we live in, nor do I think criminalizing abortion will bring that world about. So we deal with the situation we have.