By Alyssa
An estimated one out of every three women will have an abortion by the age of 45 – and, yes, some of these women are Pennsylvania women. But the alarming amount of hype these procedures elicit on a regular basis must mean they aren’t safe, right?
Wrong. In 2009, 37,284 abortions were performed in Pennsylvania. Of these, there were 47 complications – that’s a complication rate of 0.1%.
Contrast this with the complication rate associated with having cataract surgery, which is about five times as likely to cause serious complications, or the rate of complications which arise from having a colonoscopy in an ambulatory surgical facility or hospital, which ranged from 2.4% to 3.4%. That makes colonoscopies 24 to 34 times riskier than abortion procedures.
In fact, rates reported by the Guttmacher Institute put the overall rate of complication of pregnancies at seven deaths for every 100,000 live births, while abortions in the United States are less than one death per 100,000 procedures. Depending on the health and circumstances of the woman, this could also make having an abortion much safer than carrying the pregnancy to term.
When looking at the rate of safety of abortion procedures, the recent government pushes towards over-regulation of abortion clinics are completely unfounded. Regulation is one thing; making it nearly impossible for abortion clinics to operate is unacceptable.
Halloween’s over, and I’ve certainly had enough with the state legislature disguising underhanded attempts at taking away women’s reproductive rights as “increasing safety.” The mask’s off, PA, and what lies underneath is far scarier: dangerous bills such as SB 732 and SB 3 that could force safe abortion providers to close and bring back the dangers of the back-alley.
An estimated one out of every three women will have an abortion by the age of 45 – and, yes, some of these women are Pennsylvania women. But the alarming amount of hype these procedures elicit on a regular basis must mean they aren’t safe, right?
Wrong. In 2009, 37,284 abortions were performed in Pennsylvania. Of these, there were 47 complications – that’s a complication rate of 0.1%.
Contrast this with the complication rate associated with having cataract surgery, which is about five times as likely to cause serious complications, or the rate of complications which arise from having a colonoscopy in an ambulatory surgical facility or hospital, which ranged from 2.4% to 3.4%. That makes colonoscopies 24 to 34 times riskier than abortion procedures.
In fact, rates reported by the Guttmacher Institute put the overall rate of complication of pregnancies at seven deaths for every 100,000 live births, while abortions in the United States are less than one death per 100,000 procedures. Depending on the health and circumstances of the woman, this could also make having an abortion much safer than carrying the pregnancy to term.
When looking at the rate of safety of abortion procedures, the recent government pushes towards over-regulation of abortion clinics are completely unfounded. Regulation is one thing; making it nearly impossible for abortion clinics to operate is unacceptable.
Halloween’s over, and I’ve certainly had enough with the state legislature disguising underhanded attempts at taking away women’s reproductive rights as “increasing safety.” The mask’s off, PA, and what lies underneath is far scarier: dangerous bills such as SB 732 and SB 3 that could force safe abortion providers to close and bring back the dangers of the back-alley.
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