Alveda King & Ryan Bomberger- Impact of Abortion on the African American Comm...
Byron Calhoun - 40 years of Alice
1. 40 Years of Abortion or “Alice
Through the Looking Glass”
Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, MBA
Professor and Vice Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology
West Virginia University-Charleston
Charleston, WV, USA
December, 2012
2. Myths regarding 40 years of legal
abortion
• Myth of Neutrality
• Myth of Fact-Value Distinction
• Myth of no “bad” abortions
• Conspiracy of Silence
3. Myth of Neutrality
• Fantasy of neutrality-Alice and the Cheshire
Cat
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from
here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: The it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
4. Myth of Neutrality
• Science is neutral
• View of abortion is merely follows a choice
void of any value
5. Myth of Fact-Value Distinction
• False dichotomy between science and ethics
• Truth is knowable in both the scientific and
ethical realm
To quote Alice again: ‘Curiouser and
curiouser!” cried Alice. (Alice in Wonderland
Chapter 2)
6. Myth of no “bad” abortion
• American Congress of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists (ACOG), National Cancer
Institute (NCI), Center for Disease Control
(CDC), and DHHS all steadfastly refuse to
acknowledge any adverse effects of elective
abortion on women.
7. Truth is quite the contrary
• Increased maternal mortality with abortion
• Increased risk for preterm delivery (over
130 papers to date with statistical
significance)
• Increased risk of mental health issues
• Increased risk of breast cancer with first
pregnancy ending in abortion
8. “Poor-choice” or the Conspiracy
of Silence
'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only you can
find it.' (Alice in Wonderland Chapter 9)
• Is there “choice” for women without addressing
these risks?
• ACOG has refused to list, publish, or
acknowledge in publications any complication of
elective abortion related to: maternal mortality,
preterm birth, psychological effects, or breast
cancer.
9. “Poor-choice” or the Conspiracy
of Silence
• Refusal of journals in the United States in
particular to publish virtually any articles
critical of elective abortion.
• Refusal to allow any discussion at a
national meeting level regarding elective
abortion complications.
10. “Poor-choice” or the Conspiracy
of Silence
• Refusal of DHHS, CDC, NIH, or NCI to
advocate, provide, collect, and properly
report on elective abortion procedure
numbers, procedures by weeks gestation,
procedures by types (surgical/medical),
complication rates of abortion by weeks
gestation/abortion type and maternal
mortality.
11. “Poor-choice” or the Conspiracy
of Silence
• Refusal of DHHS, CDC, NIH, or NCI to
advocate or develop a means for collecting
national data on the most common elective
surgical/medical procedure performed on
women in the United States (over 50
million since 1973): elective abortion.
12. “Poor-choice”
• Elective abortion over the last 40 years is a
women’s healthcare disaster!
• Elective abortion over the last 40 years has
been a public health disaster costing over
$1.2 Billion annually!
• Elective abortion’s true risk has been
suppressed to the detriment of women!
13. Edmund Burke-Irish statesman of
18th century
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is
for good men (and women) to do nothing.”
