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Abortion
Turning a Blind Eye to the Lack of Statistics
August 20, 2024
by Steven A. Foley, MD
A recent article published in The New England Journal of Medicine titled “Rape, Homicide, and Abortion Bans – The Abandonment of People Subjected to Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence” is another example that abortion advocates have a single focus: to allow abortion on demand throughout pregnancy. It also follows a line of articles published to cause confusion about the content of pro-life laws. The article states that “society’s laws signal what it values.” The authors have signaled what they value, and it is not the life of the unborn baby. Is it possible that the lack of value for human life has affected intimate partner violence?
As pro-life healthcare professionals, the protection of the unborn life is exactly what we value—the value of every person from fertilization to natural death. We applaud those states with laws in place to protect the unborn.
Intimate partner violence, against men or women, is a serious issue. However, rather than providing viable solutions, the article spends most of the time discussing how difficult it is to get statistics and how inadequate the available statistics are. Even with the acknowledgement of inadequate statistics, the article still concludes that restrictive abortion laws have resulted in increasing intimate partner violence.
One example of a questionable conclusion is the statement that the National Domestic Violence Hotline experienced a 98 percent increase in calls the year after Roe v. Wade was reversed. Unfortunately, there is no reference for the statement, and the only national data base they cite in their article is from 10 years ago.
The article failed to address a number of issues, including:
- Were there other social issues during this time that could have resulted in increases in intimate partner violence, such as the COVID pandemic and increasing opioid abuse?
- What is the data about coerced abortions as a form of intimate partner violence?
- Is it possible the lack of value for human life is affecting intimate partner violence?
- Did intimate partner violence only increase in the states with restrictive abortion laws?
Intimate partner violence is certainly an issue, but blaming restrictive abortion laws for it, while also stating how bad the evidence is, is not going to lead to understanding the causes or providing solutions.
It seems the authors are not concerned about intimate partner violence as much as ensuring abortion is available throughout pregnancy.
