Question the Status Quo
Stanford Students for Life has launched a flyering campaign that provokes students and others on campus to question the status quo of legalized abortion. Below are the content of these flyers and their corresponding sources.
| myth: most Democrats favor expanding abortion rights | |
| fact: | 61% of registered Democrats think that abortion should be subject to more restrictions than it is now. 45% of registered Democrats think that abortion should be categorically prohibited or permitted only in cases of rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life. |
| | New York Times/CBS 2004 poll |
| myth: most women support abortion on demand | |
| fact: | 51% of American women think abortion never be permitted, or should be permitted only in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mother’s life. Only 30% think abortion should be generally available. |
| | Center for the Advancement of Women 2003 survey |
| myth: it’s an amorphous clump of tissue | |
| fact: | 77% of abortions occur when the fetus has a beating heart, a developing brain, fingers, and toes. 43% of abortions occur after the fetus can make a fist. Under Roe v. Wade, abortion is legal at any point in a pregnancy for virtually any reason. |
| | NIH Medline Encyclopedia and CDC 2000 study |
| myth: most abortions result from rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life | |
| fact: | 1% of abortions occur as a result of rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life. 3% are due to fetal health problems, and 3% are due to maternal health problems (mental or physical). |
| | Alan Guttmacher Institute statistics |
| "I am 100 percent pro-life. No compromises, no exceptions." | |
| | Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, now a prolife activist |
| "Roe v. Wade seems like a durable decision. It is, nevertheless, a very bad decision. ...It is bad because it is bad constitutional law, or rather because it is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." | |
| | John Ely Hart, former dean of Stanford Law School, pro-choice progressive |
| "Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed to the media was 10,000." | |
| | Bernard Nathanson, Co-founder of NARAL and former abortion provider |
| "When a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is a sign that, by education or circumstances, she has been greatly wronged." | |
| | Susan B. Anthony, feminist and opponent of abortion |
| question the status quo | |
