Opening up last week’s eight-page advertisement in the Emerald served as a wake-up call to those of us who have yet to realize how endangered a woman’s right to control her own body is.
The advertising supplement, “Life is full of surprises,” was paid for by Human Life Alliance, based in Minnesota. I found it peculiar that this anti-choice organization found it had such a strong handle on the social setting in Eugene that it needed to provide us with inaccurate information. Perhaps the authors of this insert don’t feel the need to educate themselves with more than hearsay and rumors, but I believe the people of Eugene have a greater understanding of what informed choice is.
A woman’s right to choose is not only a personal and private decision, it is also protected by the law. Contrary to what the anti-abortion movement would have us believe, Wade v. Roe does not give women an unlimited right to abortion throughout pregnancy, and most states have laws that ban abortion except for health reasons after fetal viability.
Despite the emotionally-charged rhetoric of the anti-abortion insert, abortion is a very safe medical procedure that has not been linked by any reliable studies to causing breast cancer or long-lasting emotional damage. Abortion, as in all surgery, provides some possibility for physical complications. However, major complications, such as a hemorrhage, serious pelvic infection or tear in the uterus are very rare.
As for the breast cancer allegations, the most scientifically reliable studies on the subject found either no link between abortion and breast cancer or only a questionable link to abortion after 18 weeks. Furthermore, recent reviews of multiple studies on the subject, including reviews in the journal published by the American Cancer Society, dismiss claims that abortion is a significant risk factor for breast cancer.
Another accusation made in the insert is the suggestion that long-term depression will come about as a result of abortion. Unfortunately, the insert failed to mention that there is no evidence that women who have abortions commonly develop long-term serious psychological problems. Additionally, after reviewing the many studies on this subject, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., concluded that the emotional problems following abortion are “minuscule from a public health perspective.”
When provided with such a barrage of facts and studies based on scientific evidence, the far-reaching claims of the anti-choice insert hardly seem credible. I sincerely hope that if the insert served any purpose, it was to startle all of us nestled in our open community, with plenty of services at our disposal.
Given the amenities that we have, it is often difficult to see the peril our comforts are in. I urge everyone to educate themselves and their peers and to remind them of how quickly the values we revere can be taken away or smeared by colorful ads and emotionally charged words and phrases.
The challenge to protect our bodies and our choices is most certainly upon us — the time to act is now.