No, The Christian Right does not Drive Up the Abortion Rate - But Thanks for Asking

Last Friday a piece written by Terry Cosgrove, head of Personal PAC, was extensively quoted in the Capitol Fax Blog. It asked if the Christian Right drives up the abortion rate, and then cited some statistics suggesting the answer is yes. It noted that the highest abortion rates all uniformly occur in countries that ban abortion and outlaw birth control. It further noted that the lowest abortion rates come in the countries with the fewest restrictions on abortion and no restrictions on birth control. It claimed, rather astoundingly, that half the hospital beds in every big city in South and Central America are occupied by victims of botched abortions. It argued that for those of us who want to save children’s lives, the best thing we could do is become pro-abortion. What it did not do is reveal where any of these statistics were coming from.
I remembered, of course, that the pro-choice movement has long had a dicey relationship with standards of evidence when advocating their cause. In trying to keep partial-birth abortion legal they claimed it caused the child no pain because the anesthesia killed the fetus. They had to back off that whopper when the medical profession couldn’t stomach the lie and women who needed anesthesia were afraid to get it for fear it would kill their child. They claimed that over 90% of such abortions were medically necessary to save the mother’s life. (Cosgrove repeated that one when we appeared together recently on WLS. When I noted that the American Medical Assn. said partial birth abortion is never necessary to save the mother’s life, he muttered that it was all politics). But even by the loose standards usually used by the pro-abortion movement, this piece seemed pretty far out there. So I decided not to just refute Cosgrove with any old statistics, but with statistics derived solely from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute and Center for Reproductive Rights. I am not content to demonstrate that he is wrong, but that even working from his own side’s playbook he is wrong. If you wish to check any of my assertions, simply go to the website of either of these organizations.
First, his assertion that the highest abortion rates are always in the countries that have the tightest restrictions on abortion. According to Guttmacher, the four countries with the highest abortion rates; Vietnam, Romania, Russia and Ukraine have NO restrictions on abortion or laws against birth control. Of the top nine only one, Chile, outlaws abortion outright. Brazil only allows it to save the mother’s life, but every other entry either has no restrictions or offers the standard medical loopholes. On this factual assertion, he is just dead wrong.
Next the assertion that the lowest abortion rates come in the countries that have the fewest restrictions. If he had not asserted that this is an invariable rule, he would be close to right, here. Of the nine countries with the lowest abortion rates only three; Japan, Israel and England have any restrictions on it. It is true that western countries with few restrictions usually do have among the lowest rates in the world. In South and Southeast Asia, the rates are high even with the most permissive laws. In Russia and Eastern Europe, rates are at the highest in the world even with absolutely no restrictions. Since the countries with both the highest and the lowest rates all have little or no restriction on abortion, permissiveness cannot be the key to low rates. One significant difference between the west and the two regions just mentioned is that all the western countries have vigorous pro-life movements while the latter two regions do not. That may not be the fundamental cause for the low western rates in permissive countries and the high rates in eastern and Asian countries with permissive laws, but at least it is an argument that fits the facts, unlike the argument Cosgrove makes.
Finally we have the assertion that half the hospital beds in South and Central America are taken by victims of botched abortions. I will confess I did not undertake a study of morphology in these regions. I called a friend in Guatemala who laughed and said; no they are not tossing out heart patients to make way for victims of botched abortions. Then I called a friend in Peru who, at first, laughed at the assertion. Then she got angry and said that is one of the “Yankee’s” favorite racist stereotypes; South American woman as the impoverished, ignorant slattern. I had to assure her that I was not the racist here – I was writing a piece refuting the assertion. We’ll leave it at that.
Cosgrove’s pro-choice Personal PAC is very effective: I shudder every time I hear a friend in the legislature has been targeted by them. Cosgrove, himself, can be very eloquent – as long as you don’t check the facts he spouts. Like the prophet in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, he just makes it up as he goes along.