Forty-two years ago, the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade granted American women the right to a legal abortion.
Four decades later, it remains under attack. In recent years, conservative politicians have launched a particularly aggressive campaign to turn back the clocks on women’s reproductive rights. They’ve depicted abortion as an immoral, dangerous and painful procedure sought by misguided women who will undoubtedly regret their decision, and they’ve used those myths to justify a slew of new laws and restrictions. As a result, American women now face a growing number of obstacles to obtaining legal, safe abortions.
But amid all the rhetoric, some of the most important facts about abortion get obscured. Here are some oft-repeated myths we need to clear up:
1. MYTH: Abortion is dangerous.
REALITY: Over 99.75 percent of abortions do not cause major medical problems.
Less than one-quarter of 1 percent of abortions performed in the United States lead to major health complications, according to a 2014 study from the University of California, San Francisco, that tracked 55,000 women for six weeks after their abortions. The researchers note that this makes an abortion statistically about as risky as a colonoscopy.
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REALITY: Most women who have abortions are already mothers.
Sixty-one percent of women who had abortions in 2008 were mothers, and 34 percent had two or more children, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That number only increased after the 2009 financial downturn. The National Abortion Federation told Slate that between 2008 and 2011, 72 percent of women seeking abortions were already mothers. A study from Guttmacher found that mothers typically have abortions to protect the children they already have; they simply cannot afford to raise another child.
10. MYTH: It is dangerous to perform abortions in clinics that do not meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical clinics.
REALITY: Requiring abortion clinics to meet these standards does little to improve patient safety and forces many to shut down.
Currently, 22 states require abortion clinics to meet a set of restrictive and often arbitrary standards, dictating that they be close to hospitals and that their hallways and closets meet certain measurements. Clinics often need to undergo expensive renovations in order to comply, and leading doctors’ groups say the laws do little to improve patient safety.
What’s more, 11 states now require that doctors at abortion clinics obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, but many hospitals flat-out refuse to grant these privileges. As a result, hospitals essentially have the power to shut down nearby clinics.
