Artificially induced abortions predispose women to premature births
in subsequent pregnancies. Professor Jeno Sarkany's study of perinatal
and infant morbidity statistics revealed a striking increase in
physically and/or mentally handicapped babies among those born to
mothers who had had a therapeutic abortion previously.
L. Iffy, M.D.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
Anti-choice people are hypocrites, because they want to save fetuses
but couldn't care less about prenatal or postnatal child care. Since
anti-choice legislators consistently oppose any welfare spending for
prenatal care at the state and federal level, the United States has a
disgracefully high infant mortality rate compared to other developed
countries.
Introduction.
Definitions.
In this country, the medical definition of "infant
mortality" is death among infants less than one year old who were
born alive in hospitals. The generally accepted definition of
"infant mortality rate" is the number of infants per 1,000 who
were born alive in hospitals but died before the age of one year.
Comparative International Rates.
Figure 56-1 shows that the infant mortality rate in the United States
is about 11 per 1,000. This rate is higher than Canada's (at 7 per
1,000), and is also higher than most of the Western European countries,
whose rates vary from Sweden's and Switzerland's 6 per 1,000 to
Portugal's 15 per 1,000. FIGURE 56-1
NATIONAL INFANT MORTALITY RATES IN 1989 5 JAPAN
Nation(s)
Infant Mortality Rates
(Per Thousand Infants)
HONG KONG, SWEDEN,
SWITZERLAND
6
CANADA, DENMARK, NETHERLANDS, WEST
GERMANY 7
AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM,
ITALY
8
FRANCE, UNITED
KINGDOM
9
UNITED STATES, GREECE,
SPAIN
11
PORTUGAL
15
BULGARIA
18
HUNGARY,
POLAND
20
ROMANIA, SOVIET
UNION
25
NORTH
KOREA
32
COMMUNIST
CHINA
34
VIETNAM
51
Reference: Bureau of the Census, United
States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States. 1990 (110th Edition), Table 1,440,
"Vital Statistics, 1989, and Projections, 2000 Selected
Countries." Washington, DC: United States Government Printing
Office. The definition of 'infant mortality' is the rate of disease-or
sickness-caused deaths of infants up to the age of one year who were
delivered alive in hospitals. Reasons for the Disparity.
The United States infant mortality rate is indeed higher than some
other developed countries, but nowhere near as high as the shrill
condemnations and extreme exaggerations that the anti-life groups would
have us believe.
The reason that the United States lags behind some other developed
nations in terms of infant mortality is not because we fail to
lavish billions on prenatal and postnatal child care because we do.
There are three primary reasons why the infant mortality rate in this
country is higher than some other developed countries. These are;
(1) Because the countries with lower infant mortality rates than
the United States use a different criteria for measurement than this
country does;
(2) because pregnant mothers in this country generally have higher
rates of bad habits in the form of high rates of alcoholism, drug
abuse, and lack of exercise and good diet;
(3) because the primary cause of infant mortality and morbidity is
prematurity, and the high abortion rate in this country combined with
a high teen birth rate contributes significantly to a high rate of
prematurity; and
(4) because the United States has a very large and diverse
population, and therefore many people simply do not obtain the best
medical care.
These four causes of infant mortality are described in further detail
in the following paragraphs.
The Role of Medicine.
Medical science can only prevent so many infant deaths; the people
have to do the rest. This is why Communist countries have such high
infant mortality rates. Although pregnant women in Communist countries
have relatively good prenatal habits, their diet is poor, and socialized
medicine is a disgrace in these nations.
Organized medicine, working alone, can only bring the infant
mortality rate down to about 15 per 1,000. The rest is really up to the
health habits of the mothers. Japan does not need a Surgeon General's
warning on its cigarette packages stating that smoking may cause birth
defects; pregnant Japanese women simply do not smoke. And women in the
Netherlands, when they find out that they are pregnant, simply do not
use illegal drugs.
Cause #1 of High Infant
Mortality Rate: Different
Accounting Procedures.
Overview.
The most important reason that our country's infant mortality rate is
higher than that of most other developed countries is simply that
accounting procedures vary widely from nation to nation.
The American Medical Association notes that, in the United States,
premature babies with extremely low birthweights who have no chance at
all of surviving are classified as "live births." Generally, a
baby born after twenty weeks' gestation is counted in this category. In
other developed countries, such babies are classified as "late
fetal deaths."[2]
This disparity in accounting procedures alone, if corrected,
would make the infant mortality rate of the United States comparable to
that of Sweden or Japan.
More Low-Birthweight Survivors.
The table below reflects the increasing rates of survival of low-birthweight
newborns in the United States. This table shows why a second anomaly in
accounting procedures contributes to a higher infant mortality rate in
this country.
As described above, even those babies born much too early to have any
chance of survival count against the infant mortality rate in the United
States. Therefore, a baby who is born at a very low weight, but who
survives a week or more and then dies, counts in tabulations of the
infant mortality rate.
Since the rate of survival of low-birthweight infants past one week
of age has increased dramatically over the last three decades (as shown
below), and since these babies have dramatically higher infant mortality
rates than heavier newborns, they contribute heavily to the overall
national infant mortality rate. This means that, even if infant
mortality is being reduced in other areas, these improvements are being
partially offset by the increased survival rate of low-birthweight
infants past the age of one week.
THE INCREASING RATE OF SURVIVAL OF LOW-BIRTHWEIGHT INFANTS IN THE
UNITED STATES
Survival Rate For Birthweight of
Under
1,000 to
1,000
Grams
1,500 Grams
1961-1965
5%
39%
1966-1970
14%
62%
1971-1975
23%
78%
1976-1982
52%
80%
1983-1992
70%
85%
Reference. Bureau of the Census, United
States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States. 1990 (110th Edition). Table 91,
"Low Birth Weight and Births to Teenage Mothers and to Unmarried
Women States: 1980 to 1987." Cause #2 of High Infant Mortality
Rate:
Bad Habits During
Pregnancy.
Overview.
One of the four primary reasons that the rate of infant mortality is
greater in the United States than in other developed countries is that,
as a class, pregnant women in this country have disgracefully bad habits
as a whole compared to pregnant women in the developed nations that have
lower infant mortality rates. Many American women, infected with the
idea that the fetus is basically worthless and that freedom is total,
continue to smoke, drink, abuse drugs, and neglect prenatal care and
good eating habits.
This is evidenced by the fact that rich and fatty foods, drugs, and
alcohol are not generally available to women in developing countries.
Additionally, women in poorer countries are generally in much better
physical condition than American women. Americans in general have a
higher percentage of overweight adults of both genders than any other
country in the world, developed or undeveloped.
Alcohol and FAS.
One of the leading causes of prematurity and infant death is alcohol
use by pregnant women, which commonly leads to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
FAS is not only the leading cause of infant mental retardation in the
United States, but also causes about 8,000 babies to be born annually
with serious physical handicaps.[3]
The actions of pro-abortionists regarding the use of alcohol by
pregnant women is not only hypocritical, it is despicable. While they
bemoan high infant mortality rates in the Unites States, the pro-aborts
diligently work to ban all warnings to pregnant women on the use of
alcohol.
For example, Human Life of Washington State placed a series of ads on
Washington Transit Authority busses. These ads consisted of a photograph
of a 17-week old preborn baby swimming in its mother's womb, and
featured the caption "ENJOY LIFE. GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL
PACKAGES." The objective of the ads was not to stop abortions, but
to warn the public about the effects of alcohol syndrome, substance
abuse, and diet on fetal development.
The Reproductive Rights Task Force of the Seattle Chapter of the
National Organization for Women (NOW) immediately initiated a telephone
campaign directed against Washington Transit, claiming that the photos
and ads were, in the NOW's lofty opinion, "too graphic."[4]
The Washington Transit Authority quickly broke its contract with Human
Life and obediently pulled the ads.
A NOW spokeswoman explained that "NOW works to promote and
protect the human rights of women. It is in keeping with the work that
we do that we protest advertising the intent of which is harmful to the
health and well-being of women, and which deprives women of their full
rights as human beings."[5]
When asked how the advertising was "harmful to the health and
well-being of women," and how it "deprives women of their full
rights as human beings," the NOW people refused to answer.
This is not an isolated incident.
When the New York State legislature passed a law requiring liquor
shops to post signs about possible harm to preborn babies through Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome, the New York chapter of the NOW released a statement
saying that "We are most uneasy about the step this legislation
takes toward protecting the unborn at the expense of women's
freedom."[5]
Cause #3 of High Infant
Mortality Rate: Prematurity.
Overview.
Premature births are the leading cause of infant mortality in the
United States. According to expert Thomas W. Hilgers, M.D., "Prematurity
was a direct or contributory cause in over 50% of deaths during the
first month of postnatal life. The death rate of premature babies ran
about 30 times higher than among full-term infants. If premature infants
survive, they face a higher frequency of mental retardation, neurologic
diseases, and blindness."[6]
Abortion as a Cause of Prematurity.
The experiences of other countries have confirmed that surgical
abortion is one of the leading causes of prematurity.
Over a single five-year period (1971 to 1976), Soviet infant
mortality rates rose steeply from 22.9 per 1,000 in 1971 to 31.0 per
1,000 in 1976. Because the quality of Soviet medicine was steadily
improving during this period, researchers found that the most likely
explanation for this phenomenon is "...the high rate of abortion
which may have caused a higher proportion of premature births in later
pregnancies, and hence higher infant mortality."[7]
Although the former Soviet Union suffered an incredible 12.8 million
abortions in 1965, this number increased to more than 20 million by
1985, meaning that more than three-fourth of all pregnancies in the
Soviet Union end in surgical abortion.[8] The Soviet infant mortality
rate peaked in 1976, when the abortion rate reached its current level,
and then gradually sank as medical technology improved.[9]
The correlation between high abortion rates and high infant mortality
rates in the Soviet Union has been confirmed by Hungarian researchers,
who concluded that "Artificially induced abortions predispose women
to premature births in subsequent pregnancies. Professor Jeno Sarkany's
study of perinatal and infant morbidity statistics revealed a striking
increase in physically and/or mentally handicapped babies among those
born to mothers who had had a therapeutic abortion previously."[1]
Prematurity Caused By a High Teen Birth Rate.
Another contributor to prematurity is the very high (and steadily
increasing) rate of teen pregnancy in the United States, which is
generally not as severe a problem in Japan and most other developed
nations. This trend is paralleling that of an increasing number of women
over 35 having their first babies in this country. These two
parallel phenomenon have been increasing while teen births and after-35
first births are relatively rare in other countries.
In the United States, one out of eight babies are born to teenaged
mothers. 7 percent of these babies are low birthweight less than 2,500
grams. And all low-birthweight babies account for about seven percent of
all births in this country.
Cause #4 of High Infant
Mortality Rate: A Large and Diverse Population.
Overview.
In general, there is a very tight correlation between a larger
population and increasing infant mortality rates for both developed and
undeveloped countries, if all other factors are held equal.
Regardless of the type of government, a larger and more diverse
population is more difficult for government agencies to educate, reach
and provide for. A country with a population of less than ten million
will be able to efficiently ensure that all of its pregnant mothers
receive good prenatal care. In a country that covers three million
square miles, and has a population of more than a quarter of a billion,
the story is different. Native populations, and areas that have been
depressed for decades (such as Appalachia) have very high infant
mortality rates that are reflected in national averages.
These points are supported by the infant mortality rates shown in
Figure 56-2.
FIGURE 56-2
ANALYSIS OF 1989 NATIONAL INFANT MORTALITY RATES
COUNTRIES WITH INFANT MORTALITY RATES OF
LESS THAN 25 PER 1,000
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view'
setting is recommended, otherwise, the table may be discombobulated.]
1989 Infant
Mortality
Rate
1989
Country
(Per
1,000)
Population
Japan
5
123,220,000
Hong
Kong
6
5,709,000
Sweden
6
8,401,000
Switzerland
6
6,611,000
Canada
7
26,311,000
Denmark
7
5,130,000
Netherlands
7
14,790,000
West
Germany
7
60,977,000
Australia
8
16,452,000
Austria
8
7,586,000
Belgium
8
9,888,000
Italy
8
57,588,000
France
9
55,994,000
United
Kingdom 9
57,028,00
East
Germany
10
16,586,000
Greece
11
10,041,000
Spain
11
39,417,000
UNITED
STATES
11
248,231,000
Czechoslovakia
13
15,658,000
Cuba
14
10,482,000
Portugal
15
10,460,000
Puerto
Rico
16
3,301,000
Bulgaria
18
8,973,000
Chile
18
12,827,000
Taiwan
18
20,233,000
Hungary
20
10,567,000
Poland
21
38,170,000
South
Korea
24
43,347,000
Romania
25
23,153,000
Soviet
Union
25
288,742,000
Yugoslavia
25
23,725,000
COUNTRIES WITH 1989 POPULATIONS EXCEEDING
150 MILLION
UNITED
STATES
11
248,231,000
Soviet
Union
25
288,742,000
Mainland
China
34
1,112,299,000
Brazil
67
150,750,000
Indonesia
80
187,651,000
India
91
833,422,000
Reference: Bureau of the Census, United
States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States. 1990 (110th Edition), Table 1,438,
"Population and Area, By Region and Country: 1980 and 1989, and
Projections, 1990 and 2000," and Table 1,440, "Vital
Statistics, 1989, and Projections, 2000 Selected Countries."
Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
The definition of 'infant mortality' is the rate of disease-or
sickness-caused deaths of infants up to the age of one year who were
delivered alive in hospitals.
This figure shows that the United States ranks number 18 in the world
in its infant mortality rate. However, among all nations with a 25 per
1,000 infant mortality rate, the United States ranks best as a large
nation. The only other nation with an infant mortality rate at or less
than 25 per 1,000 which has a population in the range of the United
States' is the former Soviet Union, which has a rate more than twice
that of the United States.
Disparities Among Ethnic Groups.
One reason that Sweden, Japan, and Canada have lower infant mortality
rates than the United States is because they have a much lower ratio of
high-risk minority groups in their populations than does the United
States.
In 1987, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 8.6 per
1,000 for Whites and more than double that figure 17.9 per 1,000 for
Blacks. Pro-abortionists tend to write this disparity off as a result of
an "incurably racist system." However, rather than being a
result of poor prenatal care or discrimination due to race, researchers
suspect that this high infant mortality rate among Blacks is due to
genetic factors.
This thesis is most strongly supported by a study performed by Dr.
Joel C. Kleinman of the National Center for Health Statistics, who has
shown that, although pregnant Hispanic women have on the average
prenatal care that is poor as that received by pregnant Black women,
they have a lower infant mortality rate than Blacks and an even lower
infant mortality rate that Whites.[10]
This long-term survey also suggests that high-income pregnant Black
people who have excellent prenatal care also have a much higher infant
mortality rate than any other group with the same high level of prenatal
care, thus indicating that a genetic predisposition to higher infant
mortality might be the answer to such a dichotomy.
On 'Anti-Choice' Legislators.
Pro-abortionists love to crow about how so-called 'anti-choice'
legislators vote against aid to pregnant women and against help for
children once they are born.
Strangely, the pro-aborts never seem to produce any documentation for
this claim. Instead, they focus on the voting records of one, or at most
two or three, 'anti-choice' legislators who happen to be standing in the
way of one of their current pro-abortion goals. This manipulation is not
surprising, in light of the fact that this catchy sloganistic phrase is
dead wrong.
If the voting records of strong pro-life United States Congressmen
and Senators are compared against those of pro-abortion legislators, the
percentage of pro-lifers voting for any given prenatal program is much
higher than that of the pro-aborts.
Extensive surveys have also shown that pro-lifers in general are more
concerned than pro-abortionists about important social issues, such as
child abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, hunger, racism, and
even overpopulation. In fact, according to Gallup polls, pro-lifers are
much more likely to oppose the death penalty than pro-abortionists.[11]
For detailed information on the voting records of United States
Congressmen and Senators, contact the local chapter of National Right to
Life (NRLC state chapter addresses and telephone numbers are provided in
Chapter 20 of Volume I, "Pro-Life Organizations").
Conclusion.
The 'infant mortality' argument used by pro-abortionists is a classic
'red herring,' designed to divert attention away from the real focus of
discussion abortion! If pro-abortionists can get people to talk
about issues that are only tangentially related to abortion, they will
have accomplished their mission.
What the pro-abortionists are trying to say with this slogan is that
it is better to kill millions of babies in the womb instead of letting a
few thousand die after they are born.
When confronted with this argument, pro-lifers should not get
involved in a heated and detailed discussion, or the pro-aborts have
won. All a pro-lifer need do is point out that, if the pro-abort wants
to talk about infant mortality, the mortality for infants entering
abortion mills is one hundred percent!
References: Infant Mortality Rates.
[1] L. Iffy, M.D. "Abortion Laws in Hungary." Obstetrics
and Gynecology, January 1975, pages 115 to 116.
[2] Interim Meeting Coverage. "Data May Be Skewed: AMA Hears
Report on Worldwide Infant Mortality." American Medical News>
January 13, 1992, page 30.
[3] "Pro-Life Ad Pulled From Seattle Buses." Portland,
Oregon Catholic Sentinel. November 3, 1989, page 22.
[4] Living World, Volume 5, Number 2, page 28.
[5] Angela Hornsby. "Drinking Warnings Required." The
Oregonian, Tuesday, June 25, 1991, page A10.
[6] Thomas W. Hilgers, M.D. Induced Abortion: A Documented Report.
January 1973, page 43.
[7] Wall Street Journal, June 20, 1978. Quoted in National
Right to Life News, October 1978, page 2.
[8] Father Paul Marx. Confessions of a Pro-Life Missionary.
1988, 353 pages, hardback, softback. Published by Human Life
International, 7845-E Airpark Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879.
Telephone: (301) 670-7884. Also see Jodi L. Jacobson. "Coming to
Grips With Abortion." Pages 114 to 131. In the Worldwatch
Institute's State of the World 1991 Report. W.W. Norton
Publishers, London, 1991. Also issued as Worldwatch Paper #97, The
Global Politics of Abortion.
[9] Bureau of the Census, United States Department of Commerce.
National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the
United States. 1990 (110th Edition). Table 91, "Low Birth
Weight and Births to Teenage Mothers and to Unmarried Women States: 1980
to 1987." This fascinating book, available in hardback or softcover
format, statistically analyzes every detail and aspect of American life.
Additionally, it covers statistics on American and foreign infant and
child mortality rates. It may be ordered from the United States
Government Printing Office or may be purchased from the many government
bookstores located in cities throughout the nation.
[10] Spencer Rich. "Death Rate for Infants in U.S. Drops to
Record Low." The Washington Post, August 31, 1990, page A10.
Also see "Puzzle in Infant Mortality." The New York Times,
August 21, 1990, page C5.
[11] James Davison Hunter. "What Americans Really Think About
Abortion." First Things, June/July 1992, pages 13 to 21.
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia published
by American Life League.
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