C-FAM and LifeNews reported last week that recent data released by the UN shows that maternal deaths in South Africa have increased by 20% from 2005 to 2007. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) confirmed this increase. Could abortion laws be to blame?

Since 1996, South Africa has become one of the countries with the most lenient abortion laws. This leniency is in line with the long-time claim of pro-abortion groups that easier access to abortion-on-demand decreases maternal mortality rates. Numbers from across the globe, however, suggest a very different story.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), on the African continent, the country with the lowest maternal mortality rate is Mauritius. Mauritius' abortion laws are some of the toughest on the continent and are aggressively protective of unborn children. In comparison, in Ethiopia, where abortion has become more and more acceptable and legally permissible in recent years, the maternal mortality rate has continued to soar; the maternal death rate in Ethiopia is 48 times higher than in Mauritius. 

More evidence from other continents: in South America the country with the lowest maternal mortality rate is Chile. Interestingly enough, unborn children are protected under the Chilean Constitution. Guyana, on the other hand, has allowed abortion to be unrestricted since 1995 and boasts a maternal mortality rate 30 times higher than Chile. Similarly, in Asia, pro-abortion Nepal has the region’s highest maternal mortality rate. The rate of maternal deaths in Nepal is 14 times higher than in Sri Lanka, which has some of the steepest restrictions on abortion worldwide.

All in all, the safest country to be a mother? Ireland—where abortion is expressly prohibited and the rights of the unborn are laid out clearly in the Irish Constitution.
These statistics from the WHO are the latest evidence of the lies of the international pro-abortion groups who claim to have women’s best interests at heart. How could an invasive, bloody, and murderous procedure be positive for anyone involved, let alone the women whose bodies are violated? Women flourish in countries like Ireland, where both mother and child are loved, respected, and considered as persons.
 
As this critical information about maternal mortality rates and abortion laws from around the world come to light, Americans absolutely MUST take notice. Our congressional leaders have refused to allow for an explicit ban on abortion in the health care reform bill. Without such a ban, abortion is free to be considered as "health care" by government bureaucrats and make no mistake, it will be considered as such. Last week at a town hall meeting, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.) explicitly stated that yes, abortion will be a government mandated service, a part of health care reform, as she believes it should be. With maternal death rates rising in pro-abortion countries around the world, we now need to ask, what is best for American women and the children they carry?