Parents in Illinois still have no right under law to learn that their teenage daughter is seeking an abortion before it is committed.  No notice or permission is needed.

Is it a baby?  A baby’s heart begins beating between 18-24 days after conception.  Brain waves can be detected six weeks after conception.  The baby can feel pain as early as 8 weeks.  By 9 weeks the baby can suck its thumb. 

Studies show that 90% of abortions are done to please someone other than the woman.  Over 60% of women who had abortions believe they had no choice or were even coerced into aborting.  52% of women believe abortion makes women’s lives worse.  

Polling data reveal that nearly 70% of Americans either oppose all abortions or only support limited exceptions (e.g. rape, incest, life of the mother, fetal disability).  Thus, a large majority oppose over 95% of the abortions that take place in our nation.

Pregnancy care centers offer women real choices at over 3000 locations throughout the USA with nearly 100 locations in Illinois.  These centers can be found under abortion alternatives in the yellow pages or at pregnancycenters.org.

The impact of the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court rulings issued on January 22, 1973 was to legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for almost any reason.

Women who died from “unsafe, illegal” abortions in the USA was claimed to be 5,000-10,000 per year, but totaled 39 in 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion.  Similar inaccurate statistics about large numbers of women dying continue to be cited today in nations that still ban abortion in an attempt to justify making abortion legal.

Abortions in Illinois fell from 47,717 in 2008 to 46,077 in 2009.  However, this total is still higher than the 2007 total of 45,298.  Most of the increase in abortions was among residents of counties in proximity to Aurora Planned Parenthood.  Compared to 2007 totals, abortions by county of residence increased over the next 2 years by 98% in Kendall, 61% in Will, 39% in Kane, 36% in DeKalb, 13% in Cook, and 10% in DuPage.  Many of the remaining counties in Illinois saw reductions in abortion. 

Annually in the USA, approximately 1.2 million babies are killed by abortion in recent years.  While this total is down from the 1.6 million peak reached in 1990, it still means that tragically over 22% of pregnancies are aborted each year.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America commits more abortions than any other USA abortionist.  Its most recent Annual Report for 2009-2010 shows a total of 332,278 abortions in 2009 (up nearly 2.5% from 2008), which generated an estimated $142 million.  Only 977 Planned Parenthood customers were referred to adoption agencies.

Prepared by Bill Beckman, Illinois Right to Life Committee, 65 E. Wacker PL, Chicago, IL 60601

312-422-9300         beckman@illinoisrighttolife.org           www.illinoisrighttolife.org