OPINION:
“Kentucky lawmakers kick off session with three pro-life bills” (Web, Jan. 5) quotes Tamarri Wieder, director of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, as saying, “Abortion did not just start happening after Roe v. Wade; women just stopped dying from them.” This is not the case. Just check with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, under the topic of abortion surveillance.
Saving women’s lives is an old argument for abortion advocates. Prior to Roe v. Wade, proponents used it to try to persuade states to legalize abortions. In fact, they fabricated the number of deaths from abortion, citing a number 10 times the real number. The basic difference between an illegal and a legal abortion is that the illegal one is performed by a doctor in secret and a legal one is performed by a doctor openly.
Whether legal or illegal, abortions are not safe. Some women die each year and many women experience complications, including being unable to give birth in the future. Childbirth is not riskier than abortion. I have never heard of an abortion advocate telling a woman that if she aborts, she may die or suffer physical or psychological complications. Are they more interested in the death of an unborn child than they are in the mother’s life and good health?
MARK GALLAGHER
Ocean City, N.J.
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