Comment by the_gastropod | Hacker News Reader

Comment by the_gastropod | Hacker News Reader

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> Abortion poses risks to the mother psychological and physical. > ... > While there’s some mental risk to the mother related to carrying a baby. Ultimately, you can give it up for adoption. I haven’t seen studies on the exact damage carrying a baby to term is, but I expect it’s relatively low when compared to abortion. That said, I think we should follow the evidence.

You couldn't be more wrong. We're talking orders of magnitude difference between giving birth and having an abortion. Abortions are comparatively extremely safe—especially when done legally in a medical environment. There are 0.4 deaths per 100k abortions. [1] Comparatively, 23.8 per 100k women die in childbirth every year. [2]

> even if someone was born of rape or incest, we don’t discuss killing them at 1yr old.

Important distinction: a 1 year old can exist outside of another human being's body. They can be put up for adoption or into foster care. An unborn being cannot.

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/24/what-the-da...

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2020...

I think you also have to track suicides and lasting psychological and physical damage.

https://www.bmj.com/content/313/7070/1431

There’s a lot of data out there; it’s political and I’m sure we can both point to evidence. My point was simply that abortion isn’t a non-risky event; it’s high risk. Not simply due to immediate risk, but long tail risk.

It’s hard having this discussion because we can both find evidence to the contrary. That said, if you know people who’ve had abortions, many regret it. The risks really aren’t tracked or shared either.

Regarding your 1 year old comment, a 20 week old can also exist out of a body. And there are 1 year olds who need life support. The argument doesn’t hold. The same arguments against infanticide hold up for abortions. I hold no judgement really, but the debate should be taken in good faith.

You want to talk about good faith? You just said "people who've had abortions, many regret it". Without even providing a ratio.

UCSF studies show 95% of women who went through abortion believe it was the right decision.

In another response in this thread you pretend to be neutral about the debate, but the example I mentioned above makes you dishonest and clearly opinionated one way.

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