Thursday, December 1, 2011

Unmasking Choice

Okay, so it's been quite awhile since I posted. Life's been busy, excuses, excuses, excuses. I came across this article today on UnmaskingChoice.com and it brings out some wonderful points. I'm only posting highlights, but I would suggest reading the entire short article: http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/blog/2011/11/30/peis-abortion-problem-so-much-coat-hanger.

The article is discussing the push to legalize abortion on Prince Edward Island and it's interesting what the arguments of the abortion supporters reveal. For instance, how many of us have heard the mantra, "safe, legal, and rare"? It's supposed to be common ground, both sides want to reduce the need for abortion. Right? Abortion supporters also claim that it needs to be safe and legal because restricting legal abortions won't lower the overall rate. It will cause abortion to go underground and women will die. Well, let's take a look at the situation in Price Edward Island and see if the rhetoric matches the reality.

Jonathon Van Maren quotes an article called "Group demands information on abortion rights":
"Pro-choice advocates on P.E.I. say a lack of information is one of the reasons the province’s abortion rate is less than half the national average.” The article further cites the fact that “the national average shows that in 2008 for every 100 live births, there were 25 abortions. On P.E.I. the figure is just under 10.”

So the abortion advocates are not pointing to the tragedy of all the women dying from illegal abortions. They are lamenting the fact that there are not enough abortions occurring on Prince Edward Island. Their argument is that women who might have chosen abortion, had it been more accessible, chose adoption or decided to raise their child instead and that is supposedly the injustice we must correct.

Van Maren says it well:
First, the greatest myth that abortion advocates try to disseminate is proven false: That if direct access to abortion is denied, the abortion rate will stay the same,  abortion businesses will go underground, and women will die miserably in the hands of back alley butchers. It is, by far, leading abortion advocate Joyce Arthur’s favourite mantra: Illegal abortion will cause the deaths of thousands of women!

So the reality is opposite the rhetoric, but yet so simple: restricting access to abortion results in fewer abortions, legal or otherwise. So if our common ground is to truly reduce the number of abortions, then heartbeat laws, parental consent requirements etc are working toward that goal we both agree on.

Finally, why would advocates for choice be lamenting the low abortion rate when there are no negative impacts of it? The answer is blatantly obvious: they are not advocates for choice, but for abortion. Just like advocates for life see life as the right and good choice, they see abortion as the right and good choice. Let's unmask "choice" and see that it is simply a euphemism for choosing abortion.

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