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10 Myths About Abortion That Are Completely Misleading

The tug of war that is pro-choice vs. anti-choice started a little over four decades ago after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in the Roe vs Wade hearing made it legal for American women to seek abortions as their constitutional right.

Since then, the ride has not been smooth. Women’s legal right to abort has been under fire from the very beginning, mostly from right-wing conservatives who have used various strategies to depict abortions as immoral, dangerous, painful, and often a wrong decision made by desperate women who later come to regret it.

But a lot of what is said concerning abortions is either misguided, borne of a lack of accurate information, or intentionally misleading to deter women from seeing abortion as a perfectly reasonable option.

Today, women are faced with a slew of obstacles preventing them from accessing legal and safe abortion clinics in Orlando. Obstacles, which, thanks to the aggressive efforts of anti-choice proponents to instate laws and restrictions, make it harder for the average American woman to get an abortion.

Most of these laws are based on the following nine myths.

1. Abortions Often Cause Serious Complications

In truth, only around .25 percent of abortions result in significant health complications. That’s less than a quarter of 1 percent.

This was proven by researchers from the University of California in 2014, who followed up on 55,000 women for six weeks after they had abortions. In the end, it was established that abortions are statistically as risky as colonoscopies.

So, where do people get the idea that abortions almost always end in life-threatening scenarios? From movies and pop culture, shockingly enough. The complications and deaths people imagine happen during abortions are more likely to occur on the screen than in real life.

Over 99.75 percent of abortions, both medical and surgical, go smoothly and don’t cause significant medical issues afterward. This figure confirms that abortion is not only safe, but it is, in fact, one of the most reliable medical procedures today.

2. Surgical Abortions are Superior to Medical Abortions

While surgical abortions were more common for the first three decades after abortion was legalized, there was a notable rise in the number of women who opted for non-invasive alternatives between 2008 and 2011, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The surgical route may be favored because it seems quicker, more thorough, and more effective, but in reality, fetuses within the first nine weeks of pregnancy can be terminated successfully using medical abortions.

The former relies on surgical tools and trained personnel, and the latter is an outpatient procedure that uses pills to expunge the fetus without putting the woman at risk.

Although most people consider them “fringe” and unsafe, medical abortions, when administered by the appropriate personnel and in accordance with health regulations, are just as effective and safe.

3. Getting an Abortion Causes Mental Anguish and May Lead to Psychological Issues

There isn’t any evidence to suggest that women who terminate their pregnancies are more prone to mental health issues.

This myth was busted in a 2008 report from the American Psychological Association, which based the study on relevant medical data published between 1989 and 2008. Unplanned pregnancies are a significant cause of emotional stress. However, the report pointed out that most of the past studies correlating abortion and depression failed to account for each woman’s medical history as well as other risk factors.

A 2013 study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), brought to light that 95 percent of women, after terminating a pregnancy, do not regret their choice. The study clarifies that while some women may experience negative emotions after an abortion, there is a distinct difference between those emotions and regretting their decision to terminate the pregnancy.

4. Fetuses Can Feel Pain

Fetuses cannot feel any physical sensations (including pain) until around the 24th week of pregnancy.

That’s according to researchers from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in Britain and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Not everyone agrees with this timeline. The UCSF research team discovered that it might take up to 30 weeks of development for a fetus to be able to feel pain.

Alarmingly, several states have imposed bans to stop the termination of pregnancies after 20 weeks, which is a law that stems from misinformation rather than scientific evidence. Most fetuses that can be terminated successfully are often in extremely early stages of development.

While mainstream media and pro-life activists insist that abortion is torture for the fetuses, there simply isn’t any evidence that a fetus can feel pain before the 24th week of gestation.

5. Only Women Without Children Consider Abortions

The majority of women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are already mothers.

While antagonists view abortion as a choice made for personal gain, there is evidence that shows most women who get abortions do it for the sake of the children they already have. In 2008, 61 percent of women who terminated their pregnancies were mothers, and 34 percent had more than one child.

Statistics from the National Abortion Federation show that between 2008 and 2011, only 28 percent of women who sought abortions were first-time mothers. That means the majority of women who seek abortions do it because they cannot comfortably provide for another child.

Abortions became more frequent after the 2009 economic downturn, which suggests that standards of living have a more significant impact on abortion rates than was previously thought.

6. Abortion is Murder

A fetus is not a baby. For it to be called a baby, it must become fully autonomous (live independently), which only happens after birth. Therefore, abortion is NOT murder.

The prevailing argument against abortion is that it is essentially the murder of babies. However, a quick glance at the scientific facts is all it takes to establish that this is nothing more than a myth.

Fetuses form after about eight weeks. Before then, they’re known as zygotes. And after full development and birth, they become babies. It is important to note that these are vastly different stages of development.

Until a fetus is born, it remains a part of its mother’s body. It is not an autonomous being like a baby. It relies on its mother for oxygen, nutrients, blood, and waste disposal. Therefore, it is as much a part of the person housing the pregnancy as their internal organs are.

To say that aborting a fetus, even for the sake of the woman’s health, is murder, is, therefore, a blatant exaggeration. Abortion clinics are populated by medical professionals, all of whom are bound by the Hippocratic Oath. No medical professional would intentionally end the life of another human being under normal circumstances.

7. Abortions are Done for Selfish Reasons

The narrative that most women terminate their pregnancies for selfish reasons such as image, career, and reputation is highly inaccurate and often ignores the serious underlying reasons.

For decades, women who have opted to terminate a pregnancy have been perceived as selfish, uncaring individuals. Part of it stems from a deep-seated culture that portrays women as nothing more than caregivers and nurturers. A woman who chooses not to have children is seen as an enemy of society, a renegade.

In reality, many abortions happen due to congenital complications, i.e., problems that appear in the fetal stage that put the health of the fetus and the mother at risk.

Most women who abort simply have no way of caring for their unborn child. It is a fact that many of them are either too young to take on parenthood or come from dysfunctional, low-income families that aren’t particularly conducive for child-rearing.

While activists make it seem like an easy way, abortion is often the last resort for many of the women who decide to terminate pregnancies.

8. Making Abortions Illegal is the Only Solution

Globally, all abortion-related deaths, which make up for 13 percent of all maternal deaths, mostly happen in countries/regions where abortion is illegal.

An estimated 47,000 women lose their lives trying to terminate a pregnancy simply because of the lack of legal abortion facilities forces them to seek the service elsewhere, usually at the hands of unlicensed quack doctors.

Criminalizing abortion will not make it end. It will only force women to seek alternatives in unsanitary, unsafe, and unlicensed clinics. A global study has, in fact, proven that making abortions illegal does nothing to reduce the rate of pregnancy termination; it only makes them more dangerous.

9. Only Women Get Abortions

Albeit the majority, women only make up a portion of the people who terminate pregnancies.

The rhetoric surrounding the termination of pregnancies is so gendered that people rarely mention Tran’s people when speaking of unwanted pregnancies. Several of Tran’s men seek and obtain abortions as well.

Abortions are not a privilege, and neither are they exclusively for women. Marginalized genders need these services just as much, and although many of them are met with less opposition, it shouldn’t be assumed that abortions are only beneficial to cis women.

You Have a Right to Safe, Legal, Abortion Facilities

If your search for an Orlando Abortion Clinic has brought you here, you should understand that it is within your constitutional rights to terminate a pregnancy for personal or medical reasons.

We have facilitated safe clinical abortions since 1995, and although we specialize in the termination of pregnancies that develop congenital abnormalities, we are experienced in performing first trimester, second trimester, and late-term abortions from 3 to 24 weeks as well.

We are an industry-leading women’s facility that also provides crucial education on emergency contraceptives, abortions, birth control, and the side effects and complications of each of them. Contact us today to set up an appointment or to learn more about how we can be of assistance.

Dr James S Pendergraft | Orlando Women’s Center | Abortion Clinic Orlando