Every Third Woman in America Quotes

“At present premature babies in hospital endure numerous noxious procedures as a part of daily care: heel sticks with a needle to draw blood for tests, insertion of catheters into veins, lumbar punctures, insertion of breathing tubes, etc.16 At present, little concern is given to the potential pain of these tiny patients. Their discomfort would seem more worthy of concern than that of fetuses without a functioning central nervous system.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“authors included developmental biologists, pediatricians, obstetricians, midwives, and lay persons. The report concluded that, “Connections from the periphery to the cortex [higher brain] are not intact before 24 weeks of gestation….The lack of cortical connections before 24 weeks, therefore, implies that pain is not possible until after 24 weeks.”8”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Philosophers concur with physicians that in the absence of a perception of “self” and a legacy of experience, no pain can occur.17 Without an awareness of oneself and one’s body, no pain can be felt. Can a fetus sense noxious stimuli after 28 or 29 weeks? Probably. But can a fetus feel pain? Given the prevailing biological and philosophical definition, the answer must be no.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“By analogy, taking away altogether the emotional component of pain produces something that is no longer pain. It might be noxious, but it cannot be pain.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Electroencephalograms (brain-wave studies) of fetuses provide indirect evidence concerning the earliest possible timing. These studies indicate that brain electrical activity begins around 20 weeks. However, it is disorganized. Only by week 26 does the pattern become synchronized. The most relevant information relates to the ability of the brain to register electrical activity in response to stimulation of the periphery. Only at weeks 28 to 29 can these evoked electrical potentials be seen. Hence, functional messaging from the periphery to the higher brain regions begins at weeks 28 to 29.6,8,11”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“If, as some claim, the mere act of responding to an unpleasant stimulus constitutes pain, then house thermostats are suffering by the millions.7 When the room temperature strays beyond a comfortable threshold, the thermostat on the wall responds to this noxious stimulus with an electrical signal prompting corrective action. However, even the most sentimental homeowner would not suggest that the thermostat is suffering.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“no direct answer about fetal pain will ever be possible. However, several compelling, indirect lines of evidence indicate that concern about possible perception of fetal pain is misplaced: no fetus can feel “pain” in the true sense during abortion. First, the neural pathways that carry sensations to the brain are not yet in place. Second, even if these pathways were connected, a fetus lacks the emotional context required for pain perception.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“To recommend that fetuses having vaginal delivery receive analgesia or anesthesia establishes a dual standard of care that society is unlikely to embrace.21 Clinicians traditionally avoid any consideration of fetal analgesia or anesthesia in labor and delivery, because of potentially depressive effects on the newborn.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Abortion has always been available in the U.S. Rich women could generally find safe venues to terminate their pregnancies; the poor could not.2 Countless American women suffered as a result. In the era before Roe v. Wade, estimates of the number of illegal abortions in the U.S. ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“abortion will continue. Many opponents claim to be taking the moral high ground. However, by depriving them of their civil rights, opposition to abortion hurts women and is thus unethical. It condemns women to mandatory motherhood. This attitude is not new. The systematic maltreatment of women has been institutionalized by governments and religions for several millennia.56 57 58 The clarity and cogency of the argument against abortion should be sufficient to sway public opinion. However, over the past four decades, this has not been the case. Opponents of abortion have resorted to eight murders,59,60 arson, firebombing,61 intimidation of women and clinicians,62 governmental intrusion into the physician-patient relationship,63 imposition of obstacles that deter and delay abortion, and increased costs.64,65 A broad campaign of deception and chicanery, including crisis pregnancy centers and disinformation sites on the Internet,66 has influenced decisions about abortion and its safety. Without the smokescreen about abortion safety, the ongoing attack on women and health care providers might be recognized for what it is: misogyny directed against our wives, sisters, and daughters. Ironically, the same political conservatives who oppose “big government” and its interference in our daily lives are sponsoring anti-abortion legislation mandating more intrusion of government into the private lives—and bodies—of American women. While the ethical dimensions of abortion will continue to be debated, the medical science is incontrovertible: legal abortion has been a resounding public-health success.18,19 The development of antibiotics, immunization, modern contraception, and legalized abortion all stand out as landmark public-health achievements of the Twentieth Century.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Legalization of abortion dramatically improved children’s health as well. While many clinicians and laypersons are aware of abortion’s health benefits for women, fewer are aware of the benefits to babies born wanted. By all the customary indices of infant health (Figure 10-2), abortion has been linked with enduring health benefits.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Being wanted may carry important—yet poorly characterized—benefits for babies.23 Several groups of investigators have examined the effect of wantedness on pregnancy outcomes and infant well-being. These rigorous studies confirm what one would expect.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Unplanned births are associated with child abuse, and large family size is related to both abuse and neglect.29 A child in a family with two unplanned births is about three times more likely to be abused than a child in a family with no unplanned births. In a family with three unplanned births, the risk increases five-fold.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“In other words, this evidence strongly suggests that abortion is used by women to avoid bearing children who would grow up in adverse circumstances.” Gruber”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Abortion cannot be legislated out of existence. It will not go away. The tragic experience with Prohibition underscores this reality.45 The question confronting our nation today is simply what women will be forced to pay for their abortions….in terms of dollars, disease, degradation, and—for some—death.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“the medical science is incontrovertible: legal abortion has been a resounding public-health success.18,19 The development of antibiotics, immunization, modern contraception, and legalized abortion all stand out as landmark public-health achievements of the Twentieth Century.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Mandatory motherhood benefits neither the mother nor child. Unwanted children fare less well in life than do wanted children.54,55 These disadvantages persist into adulthood.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“The lesson…is that it is counterproductive to try to legislate morality.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“The “abortion trauma syndrome” is not a recognized psychiatric diagnosis. Few women note lasting emotional problems after abortion, and those who do tend to be women whose psychological health was compromised before.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“The putative abortion and breast cancer link is a notable example of Internet disinformation. Flawed studies led some authors without medical or epidemiological training to conclude that abortion increases the risk of subsequent breast cancer; large, national studies free of recall bias refute any such link.37,38 Despite the conclusion of objective medical organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Institute, the disinformation campaign is unrelenting.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Intentionally misleading frightened women is improper and unethical.36 Moreover, it is cruel.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Because abortion is safe, opponents have been forced to invent bogus concerns. The Internet is a rich source of sites filled with half-truths and outright lies about abortion and its aftereffects.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“Early pregnancy loss is important for our species. As many as 70% of human conceptions may never develop, and a third of recognized pregnancies terminate spontaneously through miscarriage. This extraordinary reproductive inefficiency has a compelling purpose: increasing the likelihood that fetuses surviving the natural winnowing of pregnancy are normal and healthy.14 This miscarriage screening process works well,15,16 and nearly all newborns are healthy as a result. From a biological perspective, induced abortion is an extension of miscarriage—a continued winnowing designed to ensure than children are well born….healthy, wanted, and loved.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“The more difficult access to and funding of abortion becomes, the greater the likelihood that women will revisit the bad old days of Chapter 1. Women deserve better.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“When confronted by an unwanted or threatening pregnancy, some women are desperate. They will poison, physically abuse, and shoot themselves. Some die. Without medical supervision”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“This ruling may be an important precedent: women should not be prosecuted for inducing abortion outside the medical setting.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“women should not be prosecuted for inducing abortion outside the medical setting.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“It seems that most women who really have made up their minds will obtain an abortion elsewhere even after denial.”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“born after their mothers have been refused permission for legal abortion are born into a worse situation than other children….the very fact a woman applies for legal abortion means that the prospective child runs a risk of having to surmount greater social and mental handicaps than its peers, even when the grounds for the application are so slight that it is refused.” Forssman”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation

“in early pregnancy has a not negligible effect on later development, influencing quality of life and casting a shadow on the next generation.” David”
― David A. Grimes, M.D., Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation