But abortions will go to the back alley – not necessarily.

A few bloggers have expressed support for legal abortions for fear that the back ally butcher type of abortions will return. This article explores what happened in one country where abortions that were legal, became illegal – Poland.

Another measure of whether or not illegal abortions were being substituted for legal ones would be the total number of women who died. In Poland, this is listed as a single figure due to “pregnancy, childbirth and confinement.” Let’s look at these numbers. In 1990, when there were still 60,000 abortions, 70 women died. By 1996, with 559 abortions, 21 women died.

Another possible relevant figure would be the number of neonatal deaths, the deaths of infants per 1,000 live births. If there were attempted abortions, then there would be more premature births and more infants dying. Again, let’s look at the figures. In 1970, 37 babies died per 1,000 live births. In 1980, it was 25 – in 1990, it was 19 – in 1998, it was 9.6.

One other statistic is possibly of some interest. I have noted that in 1998 the total number of induced abortions in Poland was 253. What were the reasons given for these? To save the “life and health” of the woman – 199; for “fetal impairment” – 45; for rape or incest – 9.

In summary, then, here we have a large nation that, for 4 1/2 decades, had abortion-on-request, paid for by the state. Certainly, the practice of abortion in Poland had become deeply ingrained. Then came independence and a law that took the total number of abortions down to 0.004% of what they had been, and this contrary to all predictions by government agencies, the media, the UN and Planned Parenthood. To perhaps everyone’s surprise, there have been 25% fewer miscarriages and 30% fewer women dying compared with what it had been while abortion was legal. In the latest annual report, 21 women died from pregnancy- related problems, with none listed as dying from illegal abortions.

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