Abortion Stats & Blog Discussion

NZ's annual abortion stats were issued on 17 June, and showed a continued decline in numbers. But they also show, as ALRANZ pointed out in its media release, that much more can be done to ensure New Zealand women seeking abortions get access to those services earlier in their pregnancies -- including approval of Family Planning's proposal to provide Early Medical Terminations. The ASC has been sitting on the application for over a year now!

You can download the full stats from Statistics NZ's Web site here.

Meanwhile, over at The Hand Mirror, a post by Julie about the stats prompted a powerful discussion that included several personal stories. Among other things, those stories highlighted, yet again, how women are silenced by hostile anti-abortion tactics. As one anonymous commenter wrote, after telling her own story, 

"It is out of fear of the pro-life movement that I am anonymous. Shame on you for making our already difficult decisions all the more traumatic."

We applaud women like those who posted their stories, anonymously or otherwise. Breaking the silence is crucial. Amid all the anti-choice enthusiasm about supposed links between abortion and depression/trauma/regret, where are the studies of the stress and trauma caused by anti-abortion tactics?