Pro-life official critical of study urging legalization of abortion

Published: 2007-10-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Across the globe abortion rates are similar whether the procedure is legal or not, said a new study, and its researchers stress that illegal abortions are a threat to "women's health and survival." Deirdre McQuade, director of planning and information in the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, was critical of the study's emphasis on the safety of legal abortion and said its "methodology was flawed." Published in the Oct. 13 issue of a British medical journal, The Lancet, the study was conducted by researchers at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group based in New York, and the World Health Organization in Geneva. According to McQuade, the researchers defined "safe abortions as those that meet legal requirements in countries with permissive laws." She said in an Oct. 12 statement, "But by this unusual definition, legal abortions are safe even if they kill women as well as their unborn children."

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .