How Dare You?
We receive many questions from people who strongly object to our mission, philosophy or methods. Many of these questions begin with the phrase "How dare you . . ." We have used that phrase as the title of this page of our Q & A in the hope that such people will look here for our honest answers.
Not all the questions answered here begin with "How dare you," but they all share that sense of strong objection to or even outrage about our work. We hope our answers will, at the least, offer a first step towards greater understanding.
- How dare you tell women what they can do with their bodies?
- How dare you expose children to graphic abortion signs?
- Do you want to return to the days of back alley abortion?
- Why don't you care about babies once they're born?
- Why don't you stop trying to impose your religion on others?
- Why isn't my objection listed on this page?
How dare you tell women what they can do with their bodies?
The question isn't so much "how" but "why." The "how" is simple. Free speech allows us to express our opinion, but whether or not someone chooses to listen is the key. The real question is "why"?
One of the main reasons why we don't want women to choose abortion is because it is destructive to women physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually.
We also realize, as science does, that the fetus is in fact a separate person. The baby has completely different DNA from her mother and often has a different blood type. When a woman chooses to abort, she is not removing some part of her own body, but allowing an entirely separate person to be killed.
In the end, we cannot force someone to choose life for her baby. Her free will and the fact that abortion is legal makes it an unfortunate option. Our goal is to inform a woman about the consequences of abortion and help her choose life for her baby. Giving life to her baby is a choice that she will never regret.
[Back to Top]How dare you expose children to graphic abortion signs?
We wish it were possible for children to be shielded from the reality of abortion in our culture. We endeavor to keep our public displays of grahic abortion signs away from places like parks and schools, and we set up warning signs in advance of these displays whenever possible.
However, it is inevitable that some children will see these signs, raising the concern of some parents. We respond to this concern at some length in an article in the Face the Truth section of our site:
[Back to Top]Do you want to return to the days of back alley abortion?
The idea of widespread and dangerous "back alley" abortions prior to the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973 is not supported by the facts. The medical director of Planned Parenthood wrote in 1960:
90% of illegal abortions are being done by physicians. Call them what you will, abortionists or anything else, they are still physicians, trained as such;... They must do a pretty good job if the death rate is as low as it is...Abortion, whether therapeutic or illegal, is in the main no longer dangerous because it is being done well by physicians [1].
It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal abortions were performed prior to 1973 for the simple reason that they were not reported.
However, records were kept for the number of women who died from illegal abortions. When a woman was seriously injured during an abortion, she went to another doctor for care. If she died, the physician would not deliberately falsify her death certificate—an act punishable as a felony—to protect the abortionist. Thus, it stands to reason that prior to the nationwide legalization of abortion, deaths from illegal abortions were reported accurately.
![[Illegal Abortion Deaths Chart]](chart01.gif)
The graph at right [2] was used on the floor of the U. S. Senate during hearings on abortion in 1981. Compiled from statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics, it was not challenged by abortion supporters.
As you can see, after Penicillin became available to control infections, the number of deaths from abortion stabilized in the 1950s to about 250 per year. By 1966, when abortion was still illegal in all 50 states, the number of deaths had gradually dropped to half that number. And, in 1972, the year before the Supreme Court legalized abortion, only 39 women died—fewer than one per state.
The bottom line is that prior to the legalization of abortion, either there were not many illegal abortions, or illegal abortions were relatively safe.
Notes
- 1. M. Calderone, "Illegal abortion as a public health problem," American Journal of Public Health, July 1960, 50 (7): 949 [Back to Text]
- 2. Chart compiled with data from the National Center for Health Statistics [Back to Text]
Why don't you care about babies once they're born?
Answer coming soon . . .
[Back to Top]Why don't you stop trying to impose your religion on others?
Answer coming soon . . .
[Back to Top]Why isn't my objection listed on this page?
Some of the questions we frequently receive in the form of objections to our work may be found on other pages in the Questions and Answers section of this site, including:
- Why don't you devote your resources to opposing the death penalty?
- Why don't you devote your resources to opposing war?
- Why do you want rape and incest victims to suffer more with a pregnancy?
- Why don't you help women faced with unplanned pregnancy?
- How can you say you're pro-life when you murder abortion providers?
Try also searching the Questions and Answers section for your question. If you do not find an answer, please contact us with your question, and we will direct you to an answer, or answer your message personally.
![[Jesus Christ, Teacher]](teacher.gif)