17 Common Myths About AbortionMyth #1: "Pro-choice people are pro-abortion."
Actually: No, pro-choice people think that women faced with an unwanted pregnancy should be permitted whether or not to continue the pregnancy. Far from being pro-abortion, they believe tghat contraception should be promited and encouraged so the need for abortion is reduced.
Myth #2: "There should be no need for abortions when contraceptives are easily available."
Actually: This statement ignores the fact that all contraceptives -even properly used, effective ones- occasionally fail. Good sex education about effective methods is lacking in many school, communities, and homes, and ignorance, embarrassment or restrictive religious teachings lead many people to rely on ineffective methods. Also, contraceptives are still not allowed to be advertised on radio or TV in Canada.*
Myth #3: "Abortion is the killing of an unborn child."
Actually: This statement is made by people who believe that personhood begins at the moment of conception. Most Canadians do not hold this view. A fertilized egg, an embryo, or fetus has the
potential to become a person, but this is not the same thing as
being a person.
Myth #4: "Women use abortion as a means of birth control, especially when they have more than one."
Actually: Abortion is used as a method of last resot, anemergency solution needed when there is a failure of contraception or when there is human error. Failures or errors can arise from ignorance, inexperience, or actual method failure.
Myth #5: "If abortion becomes acceptable, it will lead to euthanasia."
Actually: Anti-abortion groups purposely make false comparisons between abortion and other issues concerning the value we place on human life. In countries where abortion has been legal for years, there is no evidence that respect for life has diminished, or that legal abortion leads to anything other than healthier women and children.
Myth #6: "Abortion is dangerous to women's health."
Actually: On the contrary, an
early abortion is many time safer than childbirth. Furthermore, women who have had an abortion are just as likely as other women to bear healthy babies in the future. However, as abortion is difficult to pbtain in many parts of Canada, delays in accessing abortion care can increase the risk of complications and jeopardize women's health unnecessarily.
Myth #7: "Abortion harms women psychologically."
Actually: |Research evidence says this is not so. The majority of women experience a sense of relief after the procedure. Psychological problems from abortion are rare, rarer than those following childbirth. In fact, there is a greater risk to a woman's mental health when she chooses to have an abortion and is refused one, than if she is provided with timely and compassionate abortion care.
Myth #8: "Unwanted babies can be placed for adoption."
Actually: Yes, unwanted babies can be plac ed for adoption, but this is not an option for women who find bearing a child and 'giving it away' far more traumatic than having an abortion. Reproductive choice is a right of all women in Canada, and no woman should be forced to bear a child for other people to adopt.
Myth #9: "Women have abortions for convenience or for frivolous reasons."
Actually: Women who choose abortion do so because they want to make a responsible decision regarding motherhood. They realize how important it is to time and space the number of children born into a family in order to ensue that all their children are properly cared for and loved.
Myth #10: "She had her fun. Let her pay for it."
Actually: This shockingly vindictive attitude that equates motherhood with punishment for sexual activity could only be made by those who do not value either children or motherhood. It suggests that all women who experience an unintended pregnancy are promiscuous and irresponsible. In fact just the opposite is true as the most common reason for an unintended pregnancy is failed or improper use of contraception.
Myth #11: "Most unwanted children become wanted."
Actually: Many unplanned children become loved and cared for when they are born into reasonably stable and fortunate circumstances. However, when a woman's circumstances lead her to seek an abortion, she has already rejected the pregnancy, and true unwantedness
may well** result if abortion is refused. Psychiatrists have long recognized the damage caused by parental rejection and many of them believe that elective abortion can benefit society by reducing child abuse, physical and mental problems, delinquency and crime.
Myth #12: "Women don't bother with contraceptives if abortion is easily available."
Actually: Many studies indicate the opposite. In the Netherlands, for example, abortion is easily avaliable and yet the abortion rate is very low due to extensive use of modern contraceptives (especially the Pill), bolstered by strong government support for family planning services. Contraceptives have been provided free of charge there since 1971 as part of government-sponsored health care.
Myth #13: "Abortion destroys family life."
Actually: On the contrary, family life is strengthened when people can plan the number and spacing of their children. The spacing and timing of children is of utmost importance in building happy, healthy families - families whose children are most likely to become independent, productive adults.
Myth #14: "Abortion is morally wrong."
Actually: Many people believe that it is morally wrong to bring an unwanted child into the world. Most consider abortion a humane and responsible decision by people who, because of their life circumstances, cannot properly welcome and care for a child.
Myth #15: "A woman pregnant as a result of rape should not be allowed an abortion."
Actually: One must question the "morality" of people so cruel and insensitive as to think that rape victims should be forced to endure the trauma of continuing a pregnancy that is the result of sexual violence.
Myth #16: "I am not in favour of abortion on demand."
Actually: Those who oppose "abortion on demand" are really opposing a woman's right to make decisions about when or when not to bear a child. To be pro-choice is to believe that women are capable of making the right decision about a pregnancy without interference by others.
Myth #17: "Is 'pro-choice' the opposite extreme from 'anti-abortion'?"
Actually: Absolutely not. Anti-abortion groups want to prohibit women from obtaining abortions. The pro-choice position is that a women should not be pressured into bearing a child against her will, or having an abortion against her will.
* I have actually seen birth control methods such as the Evra Patch and Mirena IUD advertised on TV, so this might be changing.
** Some words have been italicized by me (not in the pamphlet) for emphasis. In this case, "may well" =/= "will."~*~
We are Canada's pro-choice, volunteer work organization working exclusively to ensure that all women have total reproductive freedom to exercise the right to safe, accessible abortion.
If you would like more information, please call or write:
Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL)
616-880 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1R - 6K7
Canada
(613) 789 - 9956
Fax: (613) 789 - 9960
Toll free: 888 - 642 - 2725
E-mail: caral@caral.ca
www.caral.ca
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