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Reader Criticizes Credibility of Abortion Statistics

I am writing in response to Dustin Siggins’ column, “The Right Track”, published in the October 22, 2004 issue of The Clock.In light of your recent article, may I inquire as to the details of the so-called “studies” that you received your information from? Obviously, one needs to back up opinion with research; that is a given. However, when the research is made up of blatantly skewed and biased statistics, it loses its effectiveness in driving the point. For example: the second to the last paragraph of your article (third sentence, by the way), you wrote, “Studies have shown that women who have abortions have a 200 percent greater chance of suicide or depression”. That is quite a large percentage, especially if there isn’t a solid study mentioned to back it up. Also, the paragraph you used this “statistic” in addressed the topic of abortions performed on rape victims. Could this “greater chance of suicide and depression” be tied in with the fact that the girl was raped to begin with? You were not clear on that; being vague doesn’t exactly help prove your point. Can you not see where your argument against abortion is weakened? It makes one wonder about just which right-wing, conservative website you most likely got your research from. Perhaps you were researching it while you and your friend, obvious experts on the topic of abortion, were deciding on the best arguments against it. Who are you to decide whether a woman can or cannot have an abortion? Who is anybody to decide? Whether a woman chooses to have one is her own business, not the business of some unknown college student. By the way, that’s my opinion. I am not trying to convince anyone to agree with it by using obscure research. Perhaps you should take a look at one of your points addressing the abortion of potentially-handicapped fetuses (paragraph five, second sentence). You wrote, “Who the heck are you to decide which innocent creation of God’s lives or dies?” Hypocrisy doesn’t help your argument, either.