Let's Publicize Abortion

[Michie]

This editorial appears in the June 6 print edition, due to arrive to subscribers this week.


It’s “the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America.” The 400,000 lives it cuts short every year are “more lives lost than from automobile accidents, alcohol abuse, illegal drugs, AIDS, murder and suicide combined.”


That’s why Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., fought for more than a decade for legislation giving the federal government “broad authority to regulate the sale, distribution and advertising” of a product that kills a third of its users. And as Kennedy lay dying in June 2009, President... READ MORE

 

[Antigone]

It’s “the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America.” The 400,000 lives it cuts short every year are “more lives lost than from automobile accidents, alcohol abuse, illegal drugs, AIDS, murder and suicide combined.”

Except for cancer, which annually kills over 550,000 people in the USA alone.

Just straightening out the statistics here.

 

[Davidnic]

Except for cancer, which annually kills over 550,000 people in the USA alone.

Just straightening out the statistics here.

My guess is the argument there is "preventable" some forms of cancer are and some are not.

 

[Fantine]

The message will be perceived in different ways by different people.

Many will say, "We agree that it's important to prevent abortions. That's why we believe that birth control should be available and affordable. It's those who try to prevent the distribution of birth control and condoms who are indirectly responsible for all those abortions."

And who is statistically more correct?

There are two ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence (total or periodic) and birth control.

Obviously abstinence is a superior and morally preferable way of preventing unwanted pregnancies, particularly for the unmarried and underage.

But many would argue that it isn't and will never be practiced widely enough to end all those preventable deaths.

And so the danger in this advertising would be that many people would look at the advertisers as being insincere because of their unwillingness to "prevent" the preventable death.

They might liken it, perhaps, to heart attacks. Heart attacks can be preventable through diet and exercise, but they can also be preventable through cholesterol and blood pressure medications. Most people use a combination of both methods.

Would anyone argue that cholesterol and blood pressure meds should be taken off the markets, because they encourage immorality (gluttony and sloth?) And would those who argue that really be interested in preventing those preventable deaths?