one side-effect if abortion is made completely illegal

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/20 ... while.html

This isn't just some feminist hyperbole; it's what actually happens when abortions are banned.

The return of the back alley abortion is a scary thought.How many women are going to be afraid of seeking medical help if they are having a miscarriage because of this.

BACK-ALLEY ABORTIONS!! !


Why is it that every time someone even mentions the possibility that a woman's right to end the life of her unborn child might be limited in any way, someone trots out some coat-hanger wielding straw-man who lives in some dark and filthy back-alley and who takes an almost orgasmic delight in killing babies and molesting innocent young girls?

I wouldn't want my daughter to have any medical procedure done in unsanitary conditions by an untrained individual.I doubt we have to worry about it here in the states,but in less developed countries I believe it could happen to women.

They hold up the boogeyman of back alley abortions but have a nuclear meltdown at the suggestion that these abortion clinics be held to the same standards as a ambulatory surgical center.

That is a fair point.

The example sounds like an argument for better regulation. I am unsure as to what part of the argument leads to the conclusion that on demand abortion without restriction is the answer.

@Fnord, these are actual women in prison for miscarriage, not straw-women or straw-men.

@As for special standards for abortion clinics, abortion is already one of the safest surgical procedures in current medical practice, with current standards. It's safer than childbirth with current standards. If you're really interested in saving women's lives, you should make it illegal to give birth outside of a hospital, not pile more restrictions on abortion providers. You'd do more statistical good.

@91, this isn't an argument for "on-demand abortion without restriction." It's an argument against a complete ban on abortion without exception.

I can't believe people are defending this...

If banning abortion is resulting in women going to prison for seeking help whilst miscarrying, then the problem is with the enforcement of the law, not the law itself. We call these things, exceptions, and the solution to them isn't to junk the law, it's to recognise that the law can't be applied as a blanket, because it breaks down in certain situations. We don't throw out Newton's laws because they don't work at significant fractions of the speed of light...

Our Repugnicans....

That's horrible. I know back in the days women would get hung for having a stillborn. Makes me think living in the old days was scary and getting pregnant was very risky.

I think it's silly to compare 3rd world Catholic countries to modern secular Western ones. Is this the implication that this is what would happen if we protect the lives of unborn children?

El Salvador is one of the poorest most violent countries in the world, it is a hell hole for all that lives there.

Imagine if they made adultery illegal*. Women would automatically be stoned to death for being raped. It happens in some countries, it must be an automatic outcome...

*(By the way, I'm not advocating for making adultery illegal. I would, however, have serious doubts about trusting anyone who has an affair and is unrepentant about it - if they can't be relied upon to uphold their marriage vows, how can they be relied upon for comparatively lesser matters I may entrust them with?)

Modern secular Western countries don't ban abortion.

Whilst I doubt women could be sent to prison for having a miscarriage in Europe, I could see that happening in the Bible Belt in the US. I will also say that unsafe abortions happen in any country where they ban abortion, no matter how wealthy.

What would you do to adulterers then? Imprison them? You can't lock someone away for having sex with a consenting adult.

Accusing your partner of adultery is already a perfectly sound way to get a divorce and to have the judge be sympathetic to you in the settlement and custody hearings. I don't think we need to punish people any more than that.

And some people have no problem or at least not a big problem with 'adultery'. There are countries where it's part of the culture, tbh. Personally, I don't have time for deceiving people or having people deceive me so I'd want to know if my partner was sleeping with someone else (and I wouldn't be annoyed with him if I liked the person and he told me.) Some affairs are kind of borderline between having an open marriage and being an adulterer - in that the person hasn't explicitly said 'yes you can sleep with other people,' but they aren't exactly appalled, either.