Marty Lobdell
Staff Writer

Recently the Roe v Wade decision passed the forty-year mark. This event has stirred-up strong feelings both for and against legal abortions.

Few Americans are neutral on the issue of abortion, however the majority still favor legal abortion as an option. It is interesting to note that most people who are pro-choice are actually anti-abortion. Such people want others to have the option, but personally would not take such an option.

There is no doubt that rescinding Roe v Wade would cut down on the number of abortions in the United States, but it would not eliminate abortions. Women with means would still find doctors willing to take the risk of losing their licenses, or they would travel to a country where abortions are legal.

Prior to 1973, women in America who could afford it did both of the above. The less well-connected women who wanted an abortion prior to 1973 went to abortionists who were ill trained and often incompetent. Some women died while others experienced rampant infections that often left them sterile, due to poor techniques and lack of sanitation.

Some argue that medical doctors who perform abortions often kill their patient. Actually, medical abortions are less likely to kill a woman than carrying the baby to term. The argument that medical abortions leave women sterile is also false.

The former Soviet Union was so poor in providing contraception that abortion became the number one means of birth control. Some soviet women had 10 or more abortions and were still fertile.

There may be some truth that abortions may slightly increase the risk of breast cancer. The same finding is present for women who miscarry or elect not to nurse after a pregnancy. Hormonal shifts during pregnancy are the likely causal factor.

Indeed some women regret their decision to have an abortion; however, studies find that most women are relieved. There are numerous motivations for having an abortion. It may be the wrong time of life (too young or too old), the wrong father, too much of a health risk, a financial hardship, and the list goes on. It is a rare woman who takes this issue lightly and makes her decision casually.

Bill Clinton once commented that the best abortion is the one that doesn’t have to happen. I believe that many people would agree with Bill. Some believe that a woman who is righteous should never have sex if she were not prepared to carry a child to term.

Yes, abstinence would cut down on abortions. However, people are sexually active and I doubt that will end soon. Some have commented that women who abort are careless in their sexual activities. However, the majority of women with unwanted pregnancies were practicing birth control when they were impregnated.  If women only knew about and had easy access to highly effective forms of birth control, abortion rates should decline.