For the past few weeks news outlets and the blogosphere have been buzzing about the new world wide abortion study from the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute. Most of the numbers are “lost in ideological fog” as Deirdre McQuade puts it, but that doesn’t stop people from reporting and commenting on what these abortion numbers mean. For the most part, what has most people talking is that this study supposedly shows that illegality does not have a negative impact on abortion numbers and, of course, “illegal” is equated with “unsafe,” as far as abortions are concerned, for the purposes of this study. So what should we do with all these unsafe and illegal abortions? Why, legalize them of course! Says Dr. Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute:

And we know that the crucial first step in making abortion safer is to legalize the procedure, ensuring that it is performed by skilled providers under the best possible conditions. ”

This makes no sense to me and it really defies logic. Does this mean that we should legalize every illegal activity that endangers people’s lives? Take methamphetamines for example. Many people die from overdose or get deadly diseases from rusty/dirty needles and those who mix the drugs are often at risk of having their lab explode. Should we legalize it so that it’s regulated and mixed in a safe environment and meth addicts can come to a clinic to get healthy doses of the drug and clean needles? No! And I’m not equating women seeking abortions with meth addicts, but the same logic applies.

Fundamentally abortion is wrong and women who are willing to risk their lives to obtain illegal abortions do not justify its legality. And, as we all know, legal abortions still do not prevent women from dying or experiencing serious physical and/or emotional problems. The greatest tragedy of Roe v. Wade is not the innocent lives that have been lost in its wake, but that, by making it legal nation wide – with no opportunity for state’s to rule otherwise – it has now become widely acceptable and even noble for women to chose to kill their unborn children instead of giving birth and caring for them.