Facts About Abortion

U.S. Abortion Statistics

Facts and figures relating to the frequency of abortion in the United States.

State Abortion Facts
Comparative state abortion stats by rank, total, percentage, and total clinics.

Australian Abortion Statistics

Facts and figures relating to the frequency of abortion in Australia.

New Zealand Abortion Statistics

Facts and figures relating to the frequency of abortion in New Zealand.

The single decision of seven, non-elected justices has defined federal abortion policy in the United States. It was a decision explicitly defended on the basis of ignorance, under the claim that "no one knows when life begins." Like slavery before it, abortion is now central to the lives of many Americans, but no matter what the social cost may be, when laws victimize the weak and vulnerable, it is time for the law to change.

State Abortion Laws (U.S.)
Prior to 1973, abortion was a states issue; most abortions, in most states were illegal.
Though individual states have retained some narrow, legal outlets for regulating abortion, Roe vs. Wade forbids them from outlawing abortion during the first trimester and binds them to an extremely broad "health" exception during the second and third trimester.

Fetal Homicide Laws (U.S.)
Unless the context is abortion, it is a federal crime to harm an unborn child.
As the law stands today, if a pregnant woman on her way to an abortion clinic (where her child will be legally killed), is assaulted in the street, causing the death of her unborn child, those who assaulted her would be guilty of manslaughter.

Ancient Abortion History

A look at the methods and perceived morality of abortion in the ancient world.

While the attitudes toward abortion widely varied in the Ancient world, the historical evidence strongly suggests that abortion and infanticide were common practices. Below is a collection of written testimony to ancient views and methods of abortion from ancient Greek and Roman writers. Click on the links to read the quotations in their context.

U.S. Abortion History

The 200-year history of abortion in America goes back way beyond 1973.

For those who support abortion, there is a tendency to argue that it has always been widely practiced and broadly accepted. Those who oppose abortion, however, generally argue that its permissive and widespread use is a recent phenomena. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Birth Control and Abortion

Be wary when you hear the abortion industry suggesting ways to reduce abortion.

Does Planned Parenthood really have any interest in reducing the number of abortions? Should anybody take them seriously when they pretend to have a plan for eliminating one of their primary income streams? Birth control is not the magic key to ending abortion and the abortion industry knows that full well.

Can Birth Control Cause an Abortion?
That largely depends on when you think pregnancy begins.
Some birth control methods are truly "contraceptive" in that they provide a physical barrier to conception without altering a woman's hormones. Other methods are potentially abortive, should break-through fertilization occur. The debate over whether these methods can cause an abortion is largely influenced by how you define "pregnancy" and "conception."

Is it Wrong to Use Birth Control?
A look at the moral arguments surrounding the use of birth control.
Among Christians, there is significant debate over the ethics of birth control. The Catholic church formally opposes all forms of artificial birth control. Most Protestants only The first question relates to mechanics. Could certain birth control methods actually cause an abortion? The second question

Stem Cell Research and Abortion

Opposition to abortion and opposition to embryonic stem cell research go hand in hand.

Embryonic stem research cannot take place apart from dead human embryos. Embryonic stem cells cannot be culled without killing the embryo. Whether these tiny human beings are explicitly killed for research purposes or not, the ethics of the matter do not change.

Vaccines and Abortion

Hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines have used aborted fetal remains.

The human diploid cells used to create some of the most common vaccines in the world were originally derived from aborted human beings. That creates a huge ethical dilemma for those who must explain why these fetuses are human enough to provide the human cells necessary for such cultivation, but not human enough to be protected under the law. Add to this the broader questions of vaccine safety, and there is much to wrestle with.

Abortion in the News

Abortion-Related News From Around the World

On this page you'll find constantly updated links to the most recent, abortion-related articles from Yahoo! News, BBC News, and LifeNews. Because these articles come are from 3rd party sources, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Abort73.com.