Media outlets including
CNN,
Time magazine, and the
Los Angeles Times are reporting that "over 1 million"
women in Brazil illegally terminate their pregnancies every year. (Abortion
is illegal there, except under rare circumstances.) However, this figure
appears to originate from a group called
Ipas, an
organization dedicated to "advancing women's reproductive rights."
It openly endorses legalized abortion.
And besides the dubious nature of the source, history tells us that this "1 million" number should be looked upon
very suspiciously.
Before abortion was made legal in Mexico City a couple of years ago,
abortion proponents trumpeted the claim that there were already "up to 1
million women" who procured illegal abortions in Mexico every year.
Several mainstream media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times,
proudly parroted that number. However, after abortion was made legal
in Mexico City, it could be demonstrated that the "1 million" figure had
been grossly exaggerated and
was
flat-out false. In fact, a reporter for the Times who had echoed the
bogus statistic later had to admit that the
"1-million figure appears too high."
There is also the infamous episode from here in the United States. In
the years before Roe v. Wade, abortion proponents constantly trumpeted
that there were "1 million" illegal abortions in the U.S. These
proponents knew this was a bald-faced lie. (Ex-abortionist
Dr. Bernard Nathanson: "We aroused enough sympathy to sell our
program of permissive abortion by fabricating the number of illegal
abortions done annually in the U.S. The actual figure was
approaching 100,000 but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly
was 1,000,000. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the
public.") You know the rest of the story: 50 million dead since
1973.
Is the "1 million" number coming from Brazil bogus? If history is any
indication, the answer is yes.
Let's pray that Brazil does not fall to the "big lie." A 2007 poll showed
nearly two-thirds of Brazilians want no change in the country's abortion
laws.
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Los Angeles Times : Abortion
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Attorney John Manly : An Index