From: ecaxron@venus.lerc.nasa.gov (Ron Graham)
Subject: Feminists for Life officer responds - part I
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Date: 21 Jul 1992 15:00 EDT  

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that my wife, who is an officer in
Feminists for Life of Ohio (a chapter of FFLA), was willing to address
questions from participants in this newsgroup.  Those who responded with
questions have been patient, as she is up to her eyeballs with work.  
This is part I of her response to your questions.  It's addressed to
Susan Garvin and Dan King in particular.  A few others have sent 
questions, and we'll be getting to you shortly.  There also will be
companion info postings on JustLife, the Professional Women's Network,
and the Seamless Garment Network.  And Jean is preparing a reading list
for anyone interested in further research.

We won't be watching for follow-ups, so send follow-up questions e-mail.
Jean has even considered working on the formation of a Pro-Life Feminist
Mailing List, as she has been given an offer for Usenet access herself
and is considering taking it.  I definitely am not encouraging that ;-).

Dr. Jean Graham, FFL of Ohio, to Susan Garvin, who asked about the
composition of FFLA and its relationship to other pro-life organizations:

	I don't know of any anti-feminists who support FFLA.  I suppose
	they must find their comrades elsewhere.  There are, however,
	15 other pro-woman/pro-life organizations affiliated with FFLA
	in the National Women's Coalition for Life (total membership
	~1.6 million), and 50 pro-woman, bleeding-heart liberal, pro-life
	organizations which ally themselves with FFLA in the Seamless
	Garment Network (SGN).  (The companion postings will describe SGN.)

To Dan King, who questioned whether an organization that supports legislation
restricting abortions is acting in a feminist manner, among other things:

	Legislating such restrictions on abortion as informed consent,
	where a woman is told of the risks of an abortion prior to 
	undergoing the procedure, actually helps give women *more* choices.

	Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, etc. did not work to
	restrict abortion (which they vehemently opposed) because abortion
	was already illegal.

	As for the idea of women suffering from being denied abortions:
	women do suffer - physically and psychologically - from *having*
	abortions.  In _Aborted Women: Silent No More_, David C. Reardon
	describes the experiences of various women who have had abortions
	(members of Women Exploited by Abortion) and gives loads of stat-
	istics.  For instance, the morbidity (physical complication) rate
	for abortion is at least 10 percent, as opposed to 2 percent for
	childbirth.  The phrase "at least" is used because there are no
	requirements in the USA to report complications.  (In England, two
	separate studies indicate a 36% morbidity rate.)  The Center for
	Disease Control (itself a pro-abortion organization) agrees that
	abortion-related deaths of women are under-reported.

	Various researchers (some of them pro-only-one-possibility, or POOP)
	have reported psychological trauma, including sexual dysfunction,
	depression and suicide.  Some may attribute this to an atmosphere
	of guilt created by a "Christian" culture and the pro-life movement,
	but consider: in Japan, over 73% of aborted women reported "anguish"
	because of the decision to abort, while over half of them felt that
	abortion is "bad."

Not my words, hers.  Responses to several other questions forthcoming.

RG
Newsgroups: talk.abortion,alt.birthright