Keep Abortion Safe, Keep It Legal. That's the slogan. Tens of thousands of women died each year when abortion was illegal. Making abortion legal makes it safe. That's the claim, repeated in press coverage of the tenth anniversary of the Morgentaler Supreme Court decision (28 January l998). Is this claim true? I think not. Here's why.

First, the actual number of deaths of women from illegal abortions was never in the tens of thousands. Abortion was legalized in Canada in l969 and in the United States in l973. According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control, in the decades prior to legalization, the number of deaths of women from illegal abortions in the U.S. was as follows:

1940 1,682 deaths
1950 316 deaths
1962 205 deaths
1970 128 deaths
(Abortion Surveillance, November l980)

The number of deaths of women from illegal abortions in Canada was as follows:

1957 32 deaths
1963 25 deaths
1966 13 deaths
1969 11 deaths
(Reported Abortion Deaths in Canada, Statistics Canada, 84-203)

The numbers were dramatically declining even before legalization. Why? It had nothing to do with the legalization of abortion, which hadn't occurred. It had to do with the emergence of antibiotics (sulpha and penicillin) in the l940s and l950s and less hazardous abortion techniques (suction curette) in the l960s. Both combined to make illegal abortions relatively safe for the mother. Abortion is still a serious procedure and about 20-30 U.S. women and about l-2 Canadian women continue to die each year from abortion, even though it is now legal. Technology, not legalization made and continues to make abortions, illegal or legal, relatively safe for the mother.

Second, the claim that tens of thousands of women died each year from abortion was fabricated. That admission comes from Dr. Bernard Nathanason, one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). In the late l970s, he became convinced that he was killing innocent human beings and switched sides. At that time, Nathanson admitted that he and his NARAL colleagues pulled that number "out of thin air. We knew it was a powerful and compelling lie and we used it shamelessly" (Aborting America, New York, Doubleday, l979, p l93). They used that lie to legalize abortion. They continue to use that lie in attempts to legalize abortion in other countries throughout the world.

Third, the so-called back-alley abortions were really nothing more than back-office abortions. They were done in the back offices of doctors. That admission comes from Mary Calderone, a former president of Planned Parenthood. In l960, she admitted "90% of all illegal abortions are presently done by physicians" (Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem, American Journal of Health, Vol 50, July l960, p l69). When abortion became legal, back-office abortions became front-office abortions. Legalization brought no significant improvement in safety for the woman.

Consequently, making abortion illegal once again will not make it unsafe. Illegal abortions would continue to be done, as before, by doctors using antibiotics and suction curette, not coat hangers. The abortion procedure would remain comparatively safe, but it would become rare. And that would be a good thing. Because however risky abortion might be for the woman, it is always fatal for the unborn child.