From: rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: THE RAPE/INCEST MYTH.
Date: 30 Jul 92 17:45:20 GMT
Organization: CERL-EE, Georgia Institue of Technology

In article <1992Jul30.005152.14195@panix.com> eeb1@panix.com (Elizabeth Bartley) writes:
>In article <64100@hydra.gatech.EDU>
>>, >>> = rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>>> = Keith Cochrane

>>>>Let's say that 1% of abortions are third trimester ones.

>>>Wrong again.  But, let's continue on...

>>PICK YOUR OWN PERCENTAGE.  I've seen numbers like this before on
>>t.o and they were not contested - I think the number was 0.5% or
>>so, but that's on the same order of magnitude, which is similar to 
>>saying that numbers around 1 (say the set [0,2]) could be considered 
>>in the same order of magnitude, whereas, the number 10 is 
>>not of the same order.

>What???  The number .1 (and .1% is one figure I've heard for third-
>trimester abortions, the other being 100 / year) is not of the same
>magnitude as 1; it's different by an order of magnitude.  The number
>.01 is different by two orders of magnitude, the number .001 by
>three orders of magnitude....  The set [0,2] contains an infinity
>of magnitudes.

I agree that 1 is one order of magnitude larger than 0.1 and so on with
0.1 to 0.01 and 0.01 to 0.001 - maybe I should have limited my range.

I don't think the phrase 'the set [0,2] contains an infinity
of magnitudes' is the correct way of saying this, but I understand the
intent.

What is the definition of third trimester?  Abortion in Georgia is
advertised in the paper upto and (I believe) including the 27th week.
Abortions after the 27th week, which is about 5 weeks past the current
medical ability to sustain life, are possibly lumped into the third 
trimester statistics.

Georgia law says abortions in third trimester (viability, >= 27th week)
are restricted to 'hospital' environments.  But the statistics I have
from the Georgia Department of Human Resources lumps all abortion
that occur after or during the 21st week into one number - I wonder why.

At what week of gestation does Allan Guttmacher classify third 
trimester abortions?

>>>Ok.  According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, less than 100 abortions are
>>>performed PER YEAR after the 24th week of pregnancy.  These are done for 
>>>life threatening reasons to the mother or because of severe deformities in 
>>>the developing fetus.  There are only 3 or 4 doctors in the entire US who
>>>perform third trimester abortions.

I again ask - do they publish '24th week of pregnancy' or 'third trimester'
statistics?

I'd dare say there are more than 3 or 4 doctors nation wide, but I can't
give any evidence at this point - can you name them?

>>I have not seen this in print anywhere - are these new statistics?
>>As stated above I've seen numbers from 0.5% to 1%.
>
>I've never seen a number above .1%.  Only .8% of abortions are performed
>after the *21st* week (outdated figure - 1985 - but the trends were headedd
>in the earlier-abortions direction, anyway), let alone the 26th week.

Georgia statistics for 1990 show 746 abortions at or after the 21st week
out of a total of 39,245 for the year.

That is 1.9% - where do you get your numbers?

Abortions in Georgia are available readily up to the 27th week.

>                    - Beth

Sincerely,
Richard Pitts
-- 
rpitts@cerl.gatech.edu       |    
Atlanta, GA                --|-- 
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Newsgroups: talk.abortion,alt.politics.homosexuality