by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• In First Things, Clarke Forsythe discusses how the Supreme Court helped create abortionists like Kermit Gosnell:
  

  Because the Justices foolishly believed that abortion had few risks, and that abortion providers should have complete discretion to decide how to perform abortions in the first trimester, the Justices said that state and local officials could not regulate them in the first trimester. The Justices prohibited state health and safety regulations for abortion clinics in the first trimester of pregnancy when 90 percent of abortions are performed.

• At National Review, Michael J. New has a piece discussing the predicted “post-Roe abortion decline” and a piece on Gallup’s recent poll on morality, which held some good news for pro-lifers:
  

  Since 2001, Gallup polls have shown that opinions toward the morality of abortion have remained fairly constant. However, the percentage of Americans willing to identify themselves as “pro-life” has increased. Six of the last nine Gallup polls taken since 2009 have shown that Americans are more likely to describe themselves as “pro-life” rather than “pro-choice.”

• The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle have the AP article covering the closure of 4 abortion clinics in Maryland owned by abortionist Stephen Brigham (pictured left), and the license suspension of three abortionists. The AP article features quotes from Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation and the attorney of the abortion clinics, but no quotes from a pro-lifer:
  

  Four affiliated abortion clinics in Maryland have been shut down and three doctors have had their licenses suspended after a patient died at one clinic and regulators found lax procedures at all four, according to documents filed online by two regulatory agencies.

  The clinics in Baltimore, Cheverly, Frederick and Silver Spring were initially shut down in March. They were later allowed to reopen, but they were shut down again in early May after state regulators received a complaint about a patient who was given a drug used to induce abortions without a doctor present, according to documents posted online by the state Office of Health Care Quality, which regulates the clinics and ordered them to close.

  I’m still waiting for an abortion advocate like Amanda Marcotte or Jill Filipovic to blame the problems at these clinics on pro-life laws.

• Abortion advocate Jessica Valenti (pictured right) has an intentionally deceptive piece in The Nation in which she describes abortions pre-Roe. She writes:
  

  This isn’t even the most dangerous thing that anti-choice organizations go out of their way not to acknowledge. The Pro-Life Action League, for example, insists that before Roe, “there were not many illegal abortions, or illegal abortions were relatively safe.” The truth? According to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion was listed as the cause of death for almost 2,700 women in 1930 — 18 percent of maternal deaths. In 1965, abortion accounted for 17 percent of deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth — and those were just the reported cases.

  Valenti’s information is taken (nearly word for word) from this Guttmacher Institute web page.

  Here’s the pertinent paragraph from the Guttmacher Institute (note the highlighted portions which Valenti conveniently leaves out):
  

  One stark indication of the prevalence of illegal abortion was the death toll. In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women—nearly one-fifth (18%) of maternal deaths recorded in that year. The death toll had declined to just under 1,700 by 1940, and to just over 300 by 1950 (most likely because of the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s, which permitted more effective treatment of the infections that frequently developed after illegal abortion). By 1965, the number of deaths due to illegal abortion had fallen to just under 200, but illegal abortion still accounted for 17% of all deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth that year. And these are just the number that were officially reported; the actual number was likely much higher.

  Why does Valenti leave out the specific numbers for the deaths in 1950 and 1965 but keep in the much larger number for the 1930?

  Also note the year. Why is Valenti discussing 1965 when Roe wasn’t decided until 1973? Is it because there were 39 reported deaths from illegal abortion in 1972 (and also 24 reported deaths from legal abortion)?

  Now maybe Valenti thinks 39 deaths from illegal abortion vs. 24 deaths from legal abortions in 1972 proves that there were a lot of unsafe illegal abortions pre-Roe and that overturning Roe would lead to large number of illegal abortion deaths. But if she thinks that, she should actually make that argument instead of trying to deceive The Nation’s readers by leaving out facts which are inconvenient to her position and basically prove the argument of the pro-lifers she’s trying to vilify.

  For what it’s worth and to show how deceitful Valenti is, here’s the Pro-Life Action League web page where Valenti gets her quote from them. The web page (which isn’t linked to or cited in The Nation article) discusses the effect of penicillin in dropping the number of deaths from illegal abortion (just as the Guttmacher Institute does) and notes there were 39 deaths from illegal abortion in 1972.

[Photos via nrlc.org and cornellcollege.edu]