GAP is back - please stop by the Terps for Choice Table outside the Union to chat, vent, or ask for more information about abortion!
GAP: Myth vs. Fact
Myth 1. Women who have abortions suffer from “post-abortion” syndrome.
Fact: There is actually no such thing as “post-abortion” syndrome. Studies indicate that the rate of depression in women that have obtained abortions are the same as the rate of depression in all women in society. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depwomenknows.cfm
Myth 2. Supreme Court cases Roe v. Wade and Doe v.
Fact: These cases actually give women the right to abort until the fetus is viable, that is until it can survive out of the uterus, typically the beginning of the third trimester. After the fetus reaches this viable state, which varies from pregnancy to pregnancy, severe restrictions are imposed to prevent abortion unless the mother’s life is in strict danger. It is important to note that the recent Federal Abortion Ban does not distinguish between pre-viability and post-viability abortions, or make an exception for the health of the mother.
Myth 3. There is a link between abortion and breast cancer.
Fact: A recently released (last week) Harvard study shows that there is absolutely no link between abortion and breast cancer. Their posters are hopelessly outdated. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/health/webmd/main 2718947.shtmal.
Myth 4. Fetuses are able to feel pain as early as 8-13 weeks after fertilization, when most abortions occur.
Fact: A JAMA study shows that fetal pain is unlikely prior to the third trimester, as the fetus at this point has not developed the physiological structures necessary to perceive pain.
http://www.jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/8/947
Myth 5: Abortion Is Genocide:
Fact: Genocide is officially defined as actions done with the intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. GAP applies this definition to abortion by stating that the national group in danger is “unwanted” unborn children. But because abortion is not an act done with the intention of destroying all “unwanted” unborn American children, and furthermore because it happens on an individual basis it is not genocide. There is no united group effort to destroy all “unwanted” children.
