Back Alleys, Coat Hangers And Other Pro-Choice Lies

In Scott's recent posting at LTI Blog, he clobbers the shopworn cliché of "back-alley abortions."

The lie starts out something like this: Before the 1973 Roe ruling, as many as 5,000 to 10,000 women died each year in the United States as a result of a million unsafe, illegal abortions.

Scott begins to dissect the lie:

...unless you begin with the assumption that the unborn are not human, you are making the highly questionable claim that because some people will die attempting to kill others, the state should make it safe and legal for them to do so. Why should the law be faulted for making it tougher for one human being to take the life of another, completely innocent one? Should we legalize bank robbery so it is safer for felons? As abortion advocate Mary Anne Warren points out, "The fact that restricting access to abortion has tragic side effects does not, in itself, show that the restrictions are unjustified, since murder is wrong regardless of the consequences of forbidding it." Again, the issue isn't safety. The issue is the status of the unborn. (You should always start and end with that question.)

He goes on to his second shot:

...the objection that the law cannot stop all abortions is silly. Laws cannot stop all rape—should we legalize rape?

Thirdly,

...women aren’t forced to have illegal abortions; they choose to have them. Yes, pro-lifers mourn the loss of any woman who dies needlessly, but I refuse to accept the premise that women MUST seek illegal abortions.

And finally,

...the claim thousands died annually from back-alley abortions prior to 1973—when Roe. v. Wade legalized abortion in the U.S.—is just plain false.

Great little summary. Be sure to read it all...and keep his points in mind the next time you hear the ridiculous "back alley abortion" sloganeering.