June 17, 2013 Dear ProLife Colleague, As noted in our last letter to you, there is a frantic attempt by world proabortion forces to force Ireland to liberalize their abortion restrictive laws. The current focus of the frenzy revolves around one case of maternal mortality that has been distorted and sensationalized (see our letter at https://www.aaplog.org/get-involved/letters-to-members/savita-ireland/ But the ban on abortion is not just symbolic, it is proof that a country can protect both women and children without access to abortion. It is important to get out of the world of frenzy and into the world of fact when discussing this volatile subject. For facts, see the news release on a new article detailed below. Notice especially, “About one-third of English women are likely to experience an abortion, compared with less than one-tenth of Irish women.” Notice also, “the article reports maternal mortality of 3 per 100,000 in the Republic of Ireland compared with 6 per 100,000 in England and Wales.” The maternal mortality rate is twice as high in England/Wales where the abortion rate is three times as prevalent? Yes. Facts are stubborn things.That is why proabortion forces prefer sensationalism to facts. Liberal abortion laws do NOT save women’s lives (or babies lives either, for that matter.) The news release: Maternal and Neonatal Health Better in Abortion-Averse Ireland Than in Great Britain, Reports the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 0 3 0 3 June 17, 2013 09:49 | Source: Association of American Physicians & Surgeons TUCSON, Ariz., June 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Comparing national health data over a period of 40 years shows better maternal and neonatal outcomes in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, than in Great Britain, where abortion has been legal since 1968, according to an article in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Researchers Byron C. Calhoun, M.D., of West Virginia University-Charleston, John M. Thorp, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Patrick Carroll, M.A., of Britain’s Pension and Population Research Institute (PAPRI) examined maternal mortality, stillbirth rates, and preterm births. Irish women can travel overseas to Great Britain or the continent to obtain abortions, but Irish abortion rates continue to be low. The authors calculate total abortion rates (TARs), analogous to total fertility rates (TFRs), of 0.13 for the Republic and 0.09 for Northern Ireland in 2011, compared with 0.52 for England and Wales, 0.36 for Scotland, and 0.6 for Sweden. About one-third of English women are likely to experience an abortion, compared with less than one-tenth of Irish women, they state. Since 1968, maternal mortality has declined much more steeply in Ireland than in Great Britain. In the last decade, the article reports maternal mortality of 3 per 100,000 in the Republic of Ireland compared with 6 per 100,000 in England and Wales. A history of prior induced abortion is associated with preterm birth and low birth weight, which are in turn associated with a higher rate of cerebral palsy. The authors find that these indicators of neonatal health are also more favorable in the Irish jurisdictions. “Over the 40 years of legalized abortion in the UK there has been a consistent pattern in which higher abortion rates have run parallel to higher incidence of stillbirths, premature births, low birth-weight neonates, cerebral palsy, and maternal deaths,” the authors conclude. “In contrast, both Irish jurisdictions consistently display lower rates of all morbidities and mortality associated with legalized abortion.” “Women, women’s health policy advocates, and national health systems ought to take careful note,” they state. The Journal is an official publication of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, which was founded in 1943.
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