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IS IT ABOUT SAVING BABIES? 
Is the opposition to abortion simply about saving babies? Or, are there other motives behind the graphic images of advanced fetuses? Many anti abortionists or pro life activists as they prefer to be called, focus on the issue of late abortions even though the vast majority of abortions, around 90%, are performed during the first trimester. Most women facing unwanted pregnancy act swiftly, I cannot imagine that women would deliberately wait until the fetus reaches 20 weeks before they have an abortion. Late abortions occur in cases of fetal abnormality and complications affecting the health of the woman. Other pro lifers adopt a feminist facade and spread misinformation about the safety of legal abortion while conveniently ignoring the dangers of illegal, unsafe abortion which affects millions of women, mostly in developing countries. By focusing on the few late abortions, the anti abortion lobby hopes to harness public support in chipping away abortion rights. Indeed, not only do they want ALL abortions banned, they also want to ban contraception. In El Salvador and Nicaragua the Catholic Church/pro lifers succeeded in banning ALL abortions, including those necessary to save a woman's life, doctors are too afraid to go near any woman with vaginal bleeding and even fear to treat women with ectopic pregnancies. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/30/nicara16776.htm In the Philippines contraception is banned from public hospitals and clinics. The government only endorses Catholic approved Natural Family Planning. But Natural Family Planning or abstinence does not work if women are forced by their husbands to have sex: http://www.arha.org.au/index/Reprocen.pdf You need not take my word for this, check out what pro lifers have to say about contraception: "By outlawing contraception, you're closer to outlawing surgical abortion..."So if, as the pro-life community, you're trying to outlaw surgical abortion but the court has told us its legal basis is founded on the necessity of abortion, shouldn't the pro-life community begin to take a look at contraception?..We're trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, but the court is pointing us over here," Those who don't turn their attention to trying to outlaw contraception at this point... hurt the anti-abortion cause" Matt Sande, director of legislative affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin. http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm76/news/Press%20Articles%20and%20Speeches/Articles/2005/The%20Capital%20Times1.htm And closer to home: "The pro-life concern is that the effect of mini-pills such as micronor, because they are unlikely to suppress ovulation, are much more likely to be abortifacient. The lining of the uterus is altered so that if the effect on cervical mucus fails to prevent the passage of sperm, then embryos created are likely to be unable to embed and develop in the lining of the uterus. The mini-pills do carry a significant risk of loss of human lives at an early stage." Nicholas Tonti-Filippini http://www.actrtla.org.au/abortion/bookab/tonti.htm Even if one of the modes of action of the pill is preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine lining, it would still not constitute an abortifacient action. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, when the fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine lining. In the US, eighty six anti-abortion groups have committed to opposing all forms of contraception. Pro life organizations in Australia also oppose contraception, even though they are not as vocal about it as their American allies. Many pro life websites are full of propaganda about how the pill and the IUD are abortifacients and that the Emergency Contraception pill is a form of early abortion similar to the actual abortion pill, RU486. The pro life gospel goes something like this: "The pill/IUD alters the lining of the uterus and the six day old child cannot implant on the uterine lining and is sloughted off." A group of eight cells held together by the egg membrane is now a child! Pro life organizations oppose not only abortion and contraception but sex education and even condoms for disease prevention. And it doesn't end here, the recently introduced Human Papiloma Virus vaccine is also under fire. As far as we know, the HPV vaccine does not have any abortive or contraceptive properties and it can help prevent cervical cancer, so why oppose it? If pro lifers insist that women be told that abortion causes breast cancer, why oppose a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer? To shed light on the matter, we can look at a quote by Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council: "Giving the HPV to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex." http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg18624954.500-will-cancer-vaccine-get-to-all-women.html But wait, there's more! There are pro lifers that are opposed to child care: "REAL WOMEN OF CANADA does not support the concept of universally available, government subsidized day care. Universal day care is an imposed government plan of institutional care for children. Studies show that for young children, the family setting is usually preferable. We do not believe that it is a fundamental right for all women, regardless of circumstances, to have universal day care, but rather day care should be available according to need." "Real women of Canada" is an anti abortion, anti feminist, pro life organization http://www.realwomenca.com/papers/child_care.htm "Child-care payments [by government] are clearly a mindless concession to placate the snapping hordes of femocrats ensconced in the bureaucracy." Alan Barron, Institute of Men's Studies (associate organisation of Babette Francis's Endeavour Forum), "Child care is not only wrong but it's costing taxpayers heaps" Endeavour Forum Inc. Newsletter, Oct. 2006, 11. Endeavour Forum is a pro life, anti feminist organization. http://www.endeavourforum.org.au/oct2006-00.htm And some pro lifers are living in fear that women might become financially independed: "...The gender advisors (this is what they are really called), will provide assertiveness training to Iraqi women, urging them out of the home into the marketplace. They will organize special courses (reserved for women, of course) in which they are urged to run for public office and start their own businesses. The gender advisors will insist that gender quotas govern appointments to the new government. In the name of promoting grassroots democracy... " Steven W. Mosher http://www.pop.org/main.cfm?EID=446 (Population Research Institute is part of Human Life International) As if Iraqi women have not suffered enough under Saddam Hussein and various Islamic fundamentalists, now they have the pro life lobby aiming to keep them down as well! "Since the new feminist version of women's empowerment requires all mothers to pursue careers and be economically independent of their husbands, it cannot abide the realities of motherhood..." Brian Robertson http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PL04C03 Even education for women is suspect: "Girls have good reason to be more confident than boys, because academically, around the globe, they are more successful - which is likely to lead to higher-income jobs." Alan Barron, Endeavour Forum, Mr Barron is worried that girls are becoming more educated and are getting better jobs. http://www.endeavourforum.org.au/april04-02.htm "It is interesting that today many women are so educated beyond their intelligence that they no longer understand the way God created them - with a womb to nurture life and breasts to nourish that precious life." 'Fully Female' Nancy Campbell, director of "Above Rubies" and anti feminist, anti contraception organization. Gloria Feldt, former president of Planned Parenthood, sums it up brilliantly: "When you peel back the layers of the anti-choice motivation, it always comes back to two things: What is the nature and purpose of human sexuality? And second, what is the role of women in the world?" Sex and the role of women are inextricably linked, because "if you can separate sex from procreation, you have given women the ability to participate in society on an equal basis with men." 
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