Apr
14th
Thu
14th
It should not be too surprising that in Brazil, the country with the largest number of Roman Catholics (73% of the populace, or about 140 million), abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, when the mother’s life is in danger or when the fetus has severe genetic abnormalities. Indeed, the ban on abortion is an immovable plank in the campaign platforms of the two main candidates in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election. Yet a recent study revealed that 1 in 5 Brazilian women of child-bearing age has terminated a pregnancy, and statistics by the Health Ministry show that 200,000 women each year are hospitalized because of complications arising from unsafe abortions.
—
TIME
Planned Parenthood is pretty easily replaced with at-home materials. And then you’ve got a public health crisis on your hands that, from a deficit perspective, would be worse than just funding abortion. Of course this reveals that the actual thought is that not only will the Republicans outlaw abortion, they will then convince everyone who wants an abortion not to have one.
It’s the same thought process behind abstinence-only sex education. Which, of course, raised teen pregnancy AND abortion rates. Because it is fucking stupid to fight a culture war in practical terms. Hey Republicans: just say you’re fighting abortion on behalf of your churches. Be truthful!
(via correlationstonone)
1 in 5! I can’t get over that number.
