Texas Public Radio recently published an interview with Alan Braid, an abortionist who once operated out of San Antonio, but moved to New Mexico after Roe was overturned last year. He claims “things were bad” prior to Roe, and claims to remember treating women who eventually died from botched abortions.
“I remember distinctly a 16-year-old girl. She had [sic] someone had hacked her vagina with old rags and put a catheter in her uterus for her to abort, and she died of sepsis and organ failure,” Braid told Texas Public Radio.
Braid also said that “the memories of treating other failed attempts at illegal abortions in 1972 still haunt him, and he doesn’t want to go back to that.” He paints himself as a savior-figure, claiming he has a “duty of care” to commit abortions because women have “a fundamental right to receive this care.”
Setting aside the fact that nobody has a right to kill an innocent human being, and the fact that the Supreme Court has affirmed that such a right does not exist in this country, what credence should we give to Braid’s statements?
Although some women did die from botched abortions prior to Roe, the numbers often cited by abortion advocates are vastly inflated. Bernard Nathanson, founder of NARAL, openly admitted that the statistic of 5,000-10,000 deaths per year due to illegal abortions was completely fabricated in an attempt to persuade Americans to legalize abortion.
In addition, the majority of illegal abortions committed prior to Roe were committed by doctors, as former Planned Parenthood medical director Mary S. Calderone admitted. There was no massive proliferation of “coat-hanger” abortions.
Thirdly, a significant number of women have been seriously injured and have even died from legal abortions. In 1973, the year Roe was decided, and for many years thereafter, more women died from legal abortions than from illegal ones.
But most importantly, we must remember that abortionists are far from being compassionate savior-figures. In fact, all abortionists, whether they are operating inside or outside of the law, intentionally kill human beings. They are not in the business of saving lives, and they do not provide legitimate health care.
Their “procedures” are not considered successful unless someone very much alive at the outset – an innocent human being incapable of defending himself or herself – is dead at the end.
Maternal abortion-related injuries and deaths are tragic, but abortion’s legal status does nothing to change its moral status. It is always wrong, and should never be sanctioned by law.
