Media outlets including CNN, Time magazine, and the Los Angeles Times are reporting that "over 1 million" women in Brazil illegally terminate their pregnancies every year. (Abortion is illegal there, except under rare circumstances.) However, this figure appears to originate from a group called Ipas, an organization dedicated to "advancing women's reproductive rights." It openly endorses legalized abortion.
And besides the dubious nature of the source, history tells us that this "1 million" number should be looked upon very suspiciously.
Before abortion was made legal in Mexico City a couple of years ago, abortion proponents trumpeted the claim that there were already "up to 1 million women" who procured illegal abortions in Mexico every year. Several mainstream media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, proudly parroted that number. However, after abortion was made legal in Mexico City, it could be demonstrated that the "1 million" figure had been grossly exaggerated and was flat-out false. In fact, a reporter for the Times who had echoed the bogus statistic later had to admit that the "1-million figure appears too high."
There is also the infamous episode from here in the United States. In the years before Roe v. Wade, abortion proponents constantly trumpeted that there were "1 million" illegal abortions in the U.S. These proponents knew this was a bald-faced lie. (Ex-abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson: "We aroused enough sympathy to sell our program of permissive abortion by fabricating the number of illegal abortions done annually in the U.S. The actual figure was approaching 100,000 but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1,000,000. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public.") You know the rest of the story: 50 million dead since 1973.
Is the "1 million" number coming from Brazil bogus? If history is any indication, the answer is yes.
Let's pray that Brazil does not fall to the "big lie." A 2007 poll showed nearly two-thirds of Brazilians want no change in the country's abortion laws.
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