http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/05/13/2001191/beatriz-abortion-el-salvador/
This would've been a much better example, HomerJS.
Like I said, I'm not necessarily for or against and I'd certainly support the abortion for the above example - mother is already in critically poor health and the fetus was deformed and won't survive anyway. And guess what? She'd have no problem getting that abortion here.
Perhaps C. Everett Koop's quote is because most of his service was pre-internet so he was only up on events in the USA. Plus, these events are VERY rare so I still find it disingenuous to hold up the 0.1% of cases in order to defend the 99.9% where it's merely a personal choice, not a medical NEED.
Again - not saying it's good/bad, just trying to slice the dogma out of the equation and toss it in the trash where it belongs. Make decisions based on truth, not popular theory and dogma.
[EDIT] And according to
this study (the first I've found in this short search) the percentage of abortions for the reason "maternal health" (uncertain if that's mother's reason given or doctor-sanctioned yet, could skew results) the average was a little over 2% of those abortions. Not quite the 0.1% I suspected, but this research is only just beginning.
Interestingly, though, those rape babies ARE as rare as I suspected. That was neat.
and,
Over 90% of abortions in Canada are done in the first trimester; only 2-3% are done after 16 weeks, and no doctor performs abortions past 20 or 21 weeks unless there are compelling health or genetic reasons.
The risk of maternal mortality is probably greater in carrying a pregnancy to term (7.06 per 100 000 live births) than the risk associated with abortion (0.56 per 100 000 terminations) (Grimes D. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2006; 194: 92-94).
Hey - you asked for it.
