The benefits of decriminalizing abortion

[PeaceNikki]

On January 28, 2013, Canada will celebrate 25 years of reproductive freedom. Since our Supreme Court struck down Canada's abortion law in 1988, our country's experience is proof that laws against abortion are unnecessary. A full generation of Canadians has lived without a law and we are better off because of it.

Canada is the first country in the world to prove that abortion care can be ethically and effectively managed as part of standard healthcare practice, without being controlled by any civil or criminal law. Our success is a role model to the world.

After 25 years with no legal restrictions on abortion whatsoever:
- Doctors and women handle abortion care responsibly.
- Abortion rates are fairly low and have steadily declined since 1997.
- Almost all abortions occur early in pregnancy.
- Maternal deaths and complications from abortion are very low.
- Abortion care is fully funded and integrated into the healthcare system (improving accessibility and safety).
- Further legal precedents have advanced women's equality by affirming an
unrestricted right to abortion.
- Public support for abortion rights has increased.

Responsible abortion care: Since 1988, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has successfully managed abortion just as it does for every other medical procedure -- by applying policy and encouraging medical discretion for doctors, subject to a standard code of ethics.

Doctors abide by CMA policy and guidelines, and follow best medical practices based on validated research and clinical protocols. Criminal laws are inappropriate and harmful in medicine because they constrain care and negatively impact the health of patients.


Much more at link: http://www.rabble.ca/columnists/2013/01/benefits-decriminalizing-abortion

Joyce Arthur is the founder and Executive Director of Canada's national pro-choice group, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), which protects the legal right to abortion on request and works to improve access to quality abortion services.


See more of her work here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/06/06/343745/-Repeal-All-Abortion-Laws
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/writing.html

[Ohio Joe]

1. K&R - nt

[uppityperson]

2. k&r with thanks

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

3. Speaking of abortion....

I want to rant a little bit about the far-right. Since when did "pro-choice" become synonymous with "pro-abortion"? NOBODY is "pro-abortion", but our party platform is one that says we are not going to criminalize it to the point where women would have to jump through bureaucratic bounds to get a medical procedure that is sometimes advocated by a medical doctor, being necessary to a woman's mental or physical well being. All of this is advocated by individuals who preach of "small government" and will gladly cheer at the number of executions that took place in the state of Texas during a Presidential debate, but if a woman is raped, well that is just a "gift from God".

Plus, it is the Democratic Party which has tried for years to proactively reduce the number of abortions through practical actions such as sex education in schools and increased contraception, all of which is rejected by the party that is "against abortion". Also, to be truly "pro-life", that belief must continue beyond the point of birth, yet it seems many who ascribe to the "pro-life" theme, especially in my Catholic faith, and who shove that rhetoric and belief down peoples throats will just as easily reject the main tenants of Catholic social teaching, which, among other things, rejects the great income disparity in this country and advocates increased "social justice." Isn't that something the same people criticize President Obama for advocating?

[PeaceNikki]

4. I am pro-abortion. it's a moral choice that liberates women, saves lives and

Protects families.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

5. But the key word you used is "choice"....

There is an effort to portray everybody on our side as being pro-abortion, while that is not the case. There are a number of Catholics, including myself, who may be opposed to abortion, but believe it is a choice between a female and a doctor. That is why 52% of Catholics voted for President Obama, even after many in the church and the far-right accused the President of launching a "war on religious freedom."

[PeaceNikki]

6. ok, but you said that nobody is. I am. it's a medical procedure.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

7. I see what you're saying....

I should have worded my original statement better.

[PeaceNikki]

8. I don't like the implication that fully supporting and/or having one is shameful

I get your position. I respect that you put women's reproductive choice above your personal belief, but please don't imply that we all share that. The stigma of fully supporting abortion rights helps create the culture of criminalizing it.

Thanks!

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

9. Fully supporting or having an abortion is NOT shameful

I know that firsthand because I know someone who had an abortion nearly two decades ago because there would be something wrong with the fetus, and she was shamed by her own mother. Her mother STILL does not talk to her, and it is very sad.

[gollygee]

15. I understand where the poster is getting at

There was a woman whom I knew because our kids played together who assumed I was anti-abortion, and she made some horrible comment and said something like, "Of course you wouldn't be for abortion" and I corrected her and said I very much DO believe abortion should be completely legal. The key part that makes me get the other poster's point is that she was surprised I was pro-choice because I have kids. Like someone who believes abortion should be legal would always choose to abort and would never have kids. That would be that woman's definition of "pro-abortion." There are people who think that way out in the world. Scary but true.

I also am perfectly happy to use the term "pro-abortion" to define me. I think the availability of abortion makes women's lives a ton better and there is nothing at all wrong with choosing to have one for whatever reason.

[PeaceNikki]

18. Exactly.

It serves my position because I think that using euphemisms is shaming. Abortion is not always a tragic choice, and I shouldn't be forced to feel shamed or conflicted about it by not using the word when I talk about it.

[Nye Bevan]

11. That's like saying that you're "pro-mastectomy".

Of course mastectomy should be legal, and is sometimes necessary. But nobody aspires to have a mastectomy someday. Abortion is sometimes necessary and should obviously be available when needed, but in the words of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, it should be "safe, legal and rare".

[PeaceNikki]

14. I disagree.

I argue that the pro-choice movement needs to embrace the pro-abortion label in order to resist the mounting political attacks against abortion access and Roe vs. Wade. Firmly standing in the pro-abortion camp is the only way to hold our ground and move forward as a society with reproductive justice. We cannot play nice anymore. We cannot try to reason with people whose only mission is to get rid of safe and legal abortion completely.

Abortion is an option for someone facing a pregnancy, and that it is an option that is just as valid as the choice to parent or pursue adoption. Abortion can be an empowering experience. When you are pregnant and you don’t want to be, the ability to take control over your life, your future, and your body can be positive. Claiming the pro-abortion label reflects these diversities of women’s lived experiences and accurately reflects what we are fighting for.

[Nye Bevan]

16. "Abortion rates are fairly low and have steadily declined since 1997" is the second bullet point

(out of seven) in your OP, which praises the Canadian attitude towards abortion.

I certainly agree that this is a good thing and speaks very well of the Canadian approach to this issue.

[MotherPetrie]

20. +1

[SunSeeker]

27. I'm pro-mastectomy and pro-abortion. Both are blessings to women who need them.

But I do not "aspire" to a mastectomy or an abortion; and of course women must not be forced to have an abortion or mastectomy. Nor can we ever force women to give birth. Yet that is exactly what anti-abortionists seek by outlawing abortion.

Mastectomies and abortions are important and often life-saving medical procedures. I am "pro" any legal medical procedure a woman chooses to have performed on her own bodiy that improves the quality of her life.

I agree with Sister Simone Campbell: "Abortion is a blessing to women who need it."

[Lady Freedom Returns]

10. Their is a +1 on the Pro Abortion here.

You see I am one of a handful of people that will tell you that I am Pro Abortion. I am also one of a handful that will tell you that I am one that should have been Aborted. My birth was an accident. My Mother and father had tried for 5 years to have a family. Yet my mother could not carry. They were going to split but here was me. My father guilt my Mother into keeping me. Telling her that she could not due to him being a Preacher and that this was evil ( Mind you it was him that wanted the Divorce).

They started to find out why she was miscarrying due to me as well. My birth marked a life of pain for my mother. The Doctor wanted to abort me due to signs that she could die. My father again guilt her out of it. She was young. He was stupid. As I got older I found out what was wrong with my Mother due to my father using it on me at any occasion he could.

I would much rather been aborted and my Mother go through with the Divorce than to have to see her in pain for so many years. One must look at what the child will be born into.

[PeaceNikki]

12. wow.

[RudynJack]

17. I'm pro-abortion.

I think it's frequently the most desirable outcome to a pregnancy. We'd have far fewer social problems in the world if people judiciously had more abortions.

[PeaceNikki]

19. I would bet that more women are coaxed or guilted into childbirth than abortion.

There are laws on the books in some states with the main purpose of preventing women from having abortions. Tactics used include restricted access, invasive unnecessary procedures, 'wait times', deception, misinformation, shaming, guilting, scare-mongering, shock tactics, invasion of privacy, and proselytizing.

[RudynJack]

21. Exactly.

I would say EVERY anti-abortion law is meant to harass or intimidate women into making a different decision. It's BS.

Edit: I forgot shame. Intimidate, harass or shame.

[PeaceNikki]

23. bullshit, indeed. there are laws against "abortion coercion", but not coerced childbirth.

Which hurts society more: A medical procedure involving a woman and her doctor or an unwanted child dumped into our already overtaxed community?

We both know.

ETA this that i found on the internets:

Perhaps an "informed consent" law for continuing pregnancy?

"As your doctor, before you decide to continue with this pregnancy, I'm required by law to share with you a long list of horrible side effects and pregnancy complications which may occur, and then we're going to watch a video which will show you grossly deformed fetuses and small infants with horrible malformations, as well as charts about the likely unemployment, depression and higher suicide rates those infants can look forward to as adults.

I also have some information for you about the negative impact this pregnancy will have on your body, your future health, your marriage, the children you already have, your chances of employment, your education, the likelihood you'll end up impoverished when you get old because of the costs of posting bail when your children become druggies and criminals.

Please be aware that no one has the right to force you to continue this pregnancy, and if the father, or your parents, or your employer or neighbors are putting pressure on you to have children, the law will step in and protect you. Society is providing this entirely unbiased information purely out of the altruistic desire to make sure you don't regret your decision to ruin your life by having children.

[Nye Bevan]

22. There is actually a theory (the "Donohue-Levitt Hypothesis") that legal abortion reduces crime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect

The effect of legalized abortion on crime (sometimes referred to as the Donohue-Levitt hypothesis) is the theory that legal abortion reduces crime. Proponents of the theory generally argue that since unwanted children are more likely to become criminals and that an inverse correlation is observed between the availability of abortion and subsequent crime. Moreover, children born under these conditions are usually less fortunate as enough preparation was not put in place for their birth and upbringing. In particular, it is argued that the legalization of abortion in the United States, largely due to the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, has reduced crime in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Opponents generally reject these statistics, and argue that abortion has negative effects on society or decrease in crime is brought about in other ways.

.......

The 1972 Rockefeller Commission on Population and the American Future is one of the better known early versions of this claim, although it was not the first. The Commission cited research purporting that the children of women denied an abortion “turned out to have been registered more often with psychiatric services, engaged in more antisocial and criminal behavior, and have been more dependent on public assistance.” A 1966 study by Hans Forssman and Inga Thuwe was cited by the Rockefeller Commission and is probably the first serious empirical research on this topic. They studied the children of 188 women who were denied abortions from 1939 to 1941 at the hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. They compared these unwanted children to another group – the next child born after each of the unwanted children at the hospital. The unwanted children were more likely to grow up in adverse conditions, such as having divorced parents or being raised in foster homes and were more likely to become delinquents and engaged in crime. Supreme Court Justice Blackmun opinion in Roe v. Wade also referenced the social and private problems "of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it."

[niyad]

13. absolutely astonishing that women can manage their own health care, their own bodies, without

outside interference. how DARE they??

[TreasonousBastard]

24. About those abortion rates going down...

A lot of it has to do with overall attitudes concerning sex, but I'm betting that contraception in all its forms is readily available and discussed more openly up there-- thereby reducing unplanned pregnancies.

[PeaceNikki]

25. the point is: decriminalizing has not caused an increase

[TreasonousBastard]

26. That too...

I was just looking at from another angle.

[Nye Bevan]

29. Good point. The best way to reduce abortion is by making contraception widely available

and ensuring that everyone has access to sex education.

[PeaceNikki]

30. This thread is not about reducing abortion, it's about reproductive choice.

[Nye Bevan]

31. The poster I was replying to had "abortion rates going down" in the post title.

And out of the 7 benefits of the Canadian decriminalization that you yourself listed in your OP, the second one referred to low and declining abortion rates.

So I think there is some relevance.

[PeaceNikki]

32. It's the second time you've tried to twist it into that.

We get it. You want abortions reduced. At what cost? More children abused and in the foster care system?

No, I think you mean to say you want unplanned pregnancies reduced but you keep bringing up reducing abortions.This article Joyce wrote is about decriminalizing abortion.

[Nye Bevan]

33. I would prefer that my daughters use contraception than get pregnant and have an abortion.

Unlike the nutty religious right, I want contraception to be widely available, so that unintended pregnancies, and therefore abortions, are rare.

I like the way Ted Kennedy put it:

In 1987, Kennedy delivered an impassioned speech condemning Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork as a "right-wing extremist" and warning that "Robert Bork's America" would be one marked by back alley abortions and other backward practices. Kennedy's strong opposition to Bork's nomination was important to the Senate's rejection of Bork's candidacy. In recent years, he has argued that much of the debate over abortion is a false dichotomy. Speaking at the National Press Club in 2005, he remarked, "Surely, we can all agree that abortion should be rare, and that we should do all we can to help women avoid the need to face that decision."[2] He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Ted_Kennedy

[PeaceNikki]

34. this article isn't about what you want for your daughters

It's about decriminalizing abortion so they and everyone else have a choice if an unwanted pregnancy occurs.

[Nye Bevan]

35. May I offer my humble and sincere apologies for straying so far off-topic.

Have a wonderful weekend.

[SunSeeker]

28. K&R

[overthehillvet]

36. I don't agree with everyone on here

BUT I am strongly pro choice. What a woman and her doctor decide is none of my business. And none of anyone Else's either. I have no right to be involved in her difficult decision and no right to judge her. Stay the hell out of my bedroom and out of our medical situations.