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Knowledge is power and is at the cornerstone of everything Florida Right to Life does. We pride ourselves on offering accurate information about critical topics like abortion. From discussing abortion methods to covering student outreach opportunities, we believe providing the details you need is crucial to the pro-life movement.

Please review our information and educational opportunities below.

*Abortion Fast Facts

  • Abortion is the direct killing of a baby in a mother’s womb by ripping the baby apart, dismembering the baby, injecting a lethal substance into the baby, or other similar means.
  • The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in all 50 states.
  • U.S. Supreme Court (June 24, 2022) decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
  • Annual number of abortions was on the increase in the years leading up to Dobbs, largely due to the abortion pill. However, more recent numbers appear to show that as many as 89,000 preborn children have been saved since Dobbs due to new protective state laws.
  • Abortion data through 2020 show a rise in abortion with most abortions done using chemical abortion – a method that puts women at increased risk.
  • Abortion pills, first approved by the government in September of 2000 comprise 56% of all abortions by 2021.
  • Following Dobbs, several states enacted laws to provide maximum protections from abortion to unborn children and their mothers. However 26 states and the District of Columbia have guaranteed a right to abortion by court decision, constitutional amendment, or state legislative statute.
  • Over 65 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973.
  • Over 930,000 unborn babies aborted in 2020.
  • Over 2,500 abortions per day.
  • Over 106 per hour, 1 every 34 seconds
  • Of all pregnancies that resulted in either live birth or abortion in 2020, 20.6% resulted in abortion
  • Over 92% of abortions are performed for social or “other” reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby. Less than 1% of abortions are performed because the mother’s life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest.
  • 61% of women report feeling pressured into having an abortion; women also report being forced to abort.
  • 33+% of all U.S. women will have had an abortion by age 45.
  • Repeat abortions are twice likely to be age 30 or older, already have a child. Among all women having an abortion, six in 10 are mothers.
  • Partial-Birth Abortion performed with consent of the mother by any other method, up to the moment of birth, does not violate any federal law.
  • Women experience significant psychological and physical problems post-abortion.
  • Women of color have the most abortions: black 38+%; hispanic+other races 29+% = 67+% total. Comparison to white babies 33+%
  • Fathers have no legal right to prevent their unborn children from being aborted.
  • Babies suffer significant pain during an abortion.
  • To-date over 5000 babies have been saved from the abortion pill reversal protocol. For more detailed information on abortion pill reversal, visit https://lifeatrisk.org

* The State of Abortion in the United States” © 2024 National Right to Life Committee, Inc. | U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) | Guttmacher Institute (GI)

Find Pregnancy Online Help and Resource Centers:

Help For Pregnant College Students:

NO WOMEN STANDS ALONE

Home – Standing With You  We stand with you. We are here to help you find the answers you need to become a successful parent.

MIRAVIA’S COLLEGE RESIDENCE

Home – MiraVia   Pregnant students from any college or university in the United States are welcome to stay at our College Residence, free of charge, while they pursue their academic and personal goals. 

BALANCING PARENTHOOD IN THE WORKPLACE

Balancing Parenthood in the Workplace – Standing With You    Pursuing your dream career takes dedication, drive, and a lot of passion. Adding parenthood to the mix shouldn’t deter you from continuing that pursuit. Women CAN achieve success in their careers while parenting. As you venture into this journey, challenges will exist; but with the right balance and support, it is possible.

Post-Abortion Problems:

Whether you see yourself as either for or against abortion, it is important to clearly understand the facts surrounding this very difficult issue.

Some people argue that having abortion legal makes it “safe” for women and that the overturn of Roe v. Wade would have a devastating impact on women’s health.

The idea that legalized abortion makes abortion “safe” is untrue. There is strong evidence that there are many complications – physical, emotional and psychological – which can occur as a result of an abortion or multiple abortions.

National statistics show that 10% of women undergoing induced abortion suffer from immediate complications, of which one-fifth (2%) were considered major. 1

Over one hundred potential complications have been associated with induced abortion. “Minor” complications include: minor infections, bleeding, fevers, chronic abdominal pain, gastro-intestinal disturbances, vomiting, and Rh sensitization. The nine most common “major” complications are infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsion, hemorrhage, cervical injury and endotoxic shock. 2

Sterility
Long-term damage can occur from the immediate complications. One such example, identified by Dr. David Reardon, a post-abortion expert, is sterility. “Researchers have reported that three to five percent of aborted women are left inadvertently sterile as a result of the operation’s latent morbidity.3 The risk of sterility is even greater for women who are infected with a venereal disease at the time of the abortion. 4

Premature Births
After induced abortions, premature future births are more likely. Why? During an abortion procedure, the cervix is artificially opened before it is ready to deliver the baby, and often the cervical muscle is torn. The cervical muscle must be stretched to allow the surgeon to enter the uterus to complete the abortion. If the cervical opening and muscle are torn, depending upon the extent of the tear and damage to the cervix, the muscle becomes weakened. Babies, as they develop, rest head down, preparing for birth. If the muscle is damaged, it may open prematurely to allow the baby to be born before he/she is fully developed. 5,6

Mental Problems
In a study of post-abortion patients only eight weeks after their abortion, researchers found that 44% of patients complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decisions, and 11 % had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor. 7

Research further shows that women who have had abortions are significantly more likely than others to subsequently require admission to a psychiatric hospital. At especially high risk are teenagers, separated or divorced women, and women with a history of more than one abortion. 8

Guilt
Guilt is what an individual feels when she has violated her own moral code. For the woman who has come to believe, at some point either before or after the abortion, that she consented to the killing of her unborn child, the burden of guilt is relentless. There is little consolation to offer the woman who has transgressed one of nature’s strongest instincts: the protection a mother extends to her young. In fact, many post-abortive women believe that any unhappy events that have occurred since the abortion were inevitable because they “deserve it.” 9

Anxiety
Anxiety is defined as an unpleasant emotional and physical state of apprehension that may take the form of tension (inability to relax, irritability, etc), physical responses (dizziness. pounding heart, upset stomach, headaches, etc.), worry about the future, difficulty concentrating and disturbed sleep. The conflict between a woman’s moral standards and her decision to abort generates much of this anxiety. Very often, she will not relate her anxiety to a post-abortion syndrome abortion, and yet she will unconsciously begin to avoid anything having to do with babies. She may make excuses for not attending a baby shower, skip the baby aisle at the grocery store, and so forth. 10

Temporary Feelings of Relief
Temporary feelings of relief are frequently followed by a period psychiatrists identify as emotional “paralysis” or post-abortion “numbness.” Like shell-shocked soldiers, these aborted women are unable to express or even feel their own emotions. Their focus is primarily on having survived the ordeal, and they are at least temporarily out of touch with their feelings.

In a study of teenage abortion patients, half suffered a worsening of psychosocial functioning within 7 months after the abortion. The immediate impact appeared to be greatest on the patients who were under 17 years of age and for those with previous psychosocial problems. Symptoms included: self-reproach, depression, social regression, withdrawal, obsession with the need to become pregnant again, and hasty marriages.

Grief
No matter when the abortion occurred – a few days or many years ago, the women who underwent the procedure never forget the abortion experience and grieve for their unborn children. The grief of losing a child never ends, but for those who chose to abort, the grief, combined with guilt, makes the experience very difficult to forget or forgive. Most women report that when the anniversary date of the abortion comes, they remember it as if it were yesterday.

In addition, grief over an abortion is not limited to just the woman who had the abortion. Grief extends to the aborted baby’s father, siblings of the aborted child, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and extended family.

And the impact of that grief can even extend to partners – husbands, fiancées, boyfriends and future partners unless the abortion experience and the associated grief are resolved. “Nearly half of women in one study said abortion had “significantly altered” their relationship with their partner. 13 Breakups are common, even among couples with previously stable relationships.14

Alcohol Abuse
Abortion is significantly linked with a two-fold increased risk of alcohol abuse among women.15 Abortion followed by alcohol abuse is linked to violent behavior, divorce or separation, auto accidents, and job loss.16.

Abortion and Breast Cancer
Dr. Joel Brind, an endocrinologist and biologist, and a leading expert in discussing the link between breast cancer and abortion, reports the following findings:

The first evidence of a link between abortion and breast cancer was published in April 1957 in the well-known Japanese Journal of Cancer Research, (no. 48) which is published in English. So the “news” of a link is not new. The cells in the breasts that develop for lactation are called TEBs (terminal end buds) and are undifferentiated until the end of a pregnancy. If pregnancy does not occur, these cells tend to grow and are susceptible to becoming cancerous. The fully developed cells, called lobules, that result from full-term pregnancy are more or less immune to cancer.

Carcinogenesis is a two-stage process: 1) exposure to a carcinogen that damages cell DNA and 2) a tumor promotion stimulus that makes cells grow. When TEB cells are exposed to a carcinogen, they tend to become cancerous, whereas mature cells likewise exposed can be injured but will not become cancerous.

In the case of induced abortions, however, the level of estrogen exposure is much higher for two reasons. One is that, since the unborn child is viable, there is the same increase in estrogen levels that is found in healthy pregnancies. The second is that whereas spontaneous abortions usually occur in the first trimester, induced abortions are generally performed in the second or third trimester. Even one interrupted pregnancy means several weeks of exposure to abnormally high levels of estrogen. In a pregnancy that is carried to term, on the other hand, other hormones take over in the final stages, negating the effects of the earlier exposure to estrogen by differentiating cells for lactation and killing unneeded cells.

Dr. Frank Joseph, M.D., also investigated the abortion-breast cancer link. Some of his observations are summarized below:

  • The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that one of every seven women in the United States will develop breast cancer.
  • Breast cancer has risen dramatically in America (by 50%) since 1973, when abortions were legalized (Roe v. Wade) and is also increasing worldwide. Recent studies have pointed out a dramatic relationship between the rate of abortion and the rising incidence of breast cancer. In fact, as the rate of abortion rises in America, so does the rate of breast cancer, with those women who have aborted having significantly higher rates.
  • Of the 1.3 million abortions done annually in the United States and accounting for the increased risk posed by abortion, researchers estimate that the 800,000 first-time abortions performed annually would thus generate roughly 25,000 excess cases of breast cancer each year, as the first group of women exposed to legal abortion advances in age….Given the margin of error, the researchers predicted that excess cases of breast cancer would be between 9,000 and 40,000 per year, due to the impact of induced abortion.
  • However, the ACS (American Cancer Society) refuses to include induced abortions as a breast cancer risk. They say the link is inconclusive, but they are wrong. The evidence is overwhelming. (http://www.errantskeptics.org/AbortionBreastCancer.htm )

The link between breast cancer and abortion is there. The medical community must allow women to know the full facts about abortion and its link to breast cancer to keep women safe, not expose them to further harm.

Struggling with an abortion in your past?
Promo for Into My Arms – YouTube
This series is for those women and men who have suffered the pain of abortion. This ten-part video series with an accompanying curriculum is targeted at counseling professionals and lay people to lead them through the forgiveness journey after an abortion. “Into My Arms” is offered with great professionals such as: Dr. Theresa Burke, Dr. David Reardon, Dr. David Stoop, Dr. Gary Oliver, Dr. Jeanette Vought, John Eldredge as well as other healing professionals. This series has incredible stories offered by women and men that were brave enough to give us their stories, as well as inspirational music and beautiful artwork.

Find Help and Healing After an Abortion:

Ramah International
1776 Hudson Street
Englewood, Florida 34223
941-473-2188
http://ramahinternational.org

Her Choice to Heal
This book has been called the road map to healing.
Her Choice to Heal by Sydna Masse and Joan Phillips.
Published by Chariot Victor Publishing

Teen girls who aborted tell their own stories about why they chose abortion, what the abortion was like, and how they feel now.

References available upon request.

Student Outreach

Students are often at the forefront of the pro-life movement. They provide valuable wisdom and the know-how to connect with younger generations. But certain questions about topics like abortion can be difficult to answer, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

If this applies to you, Florida Right to Life is here to offer support and guidance as you work to protect life. We’ve compiled comprehensive information about abortion, answers to pro-choice options, and in-depth details about fetal development.

Science is on our side. We’ll supply the tools you need to tackle these big questions and answer them confidently. Click here to view our analysis.

Getting Involved in Education Efforts

Florida Right to Life has year-round opportunities for those wishing to increase their involvement in pro-life issues.

We offer various essay and oratory contests and scholarship opportunities for those who demonstrate a strong commitment to promoting the movement through research, writing, and political efforts. Please contact us today to learn more.

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