Evidence shows abortion is a human rights abuse that endangers both the unborn and women, especially minors or other vulnerable individuals and families. After abortion, women are at further risk: most suffer symptoms of trauma, death rates are nearly 4 times higher, and suicide rates are 6 times higher. 

Pregnant Women at Higher Risk of Attack

64% of abortions involve coercion, and this sometimes includes threats of physical abuse from partners—or even parents—who don’t want the child. Women and girls have been physically pushed into clinics and restrained when they tried to escape their abortion. Women have endured forced miscarriages, which sometimes result in homicide — the leading killer of pregnant women. Some women are battered down by the experience and may resort to abortion because they believe it is the only way to stop the abuse.
 

Coercion often involves direct or indirect threats of physical violence. Women who refuse to abort have been subjected to every manner of abuse, from forced injections to stabbings, beatings, bombings, gunshots, and strangulation.

According to one study of battered women, the target of battery during their pregnancies shifted to their pregnant abdomens. Indeed, the leading cause of death among pregnant women is murder. In many cases, it is known that these women were killed solely because their killers wanted to stop them from giving birth to their children.

Excerpts from the Forced Abortion in America Report
(Download full report for for more examples Link here for the citations listed below)

Three Hit Men Hired to Kill Unborn Baby After Woman Refuses Abortion
A pregnant Arkansas woman was within days of her due date when she was beaten and kicked in the abdomen by three men, killing her unborn baby girl. She said she pleaded for her child’s life as her attackers told her, “Your baby is dying tonight.” The woman’s boyfriend was convicted of planning the attack.^C25
 

Man Beats Girlfriend For Refusing to Go into Abortion Clinic
A man pleaded guilty to two counts of simple assault for beating up his girlfriend outside an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. Witnesses said he beat the woman after she refused to enter the clinic after speaking with pro-life advocates outside. She later gave birth to a healthy baby.^C26
 

Boyfriend Breaks Into Home, Assaults Girlfriend Who Had Refused Abortion
A man pleaded guilty to forcing his way into his girlfriend’s Buffalo, N.Y., house and beating, kicking, and punching her after she refused to have an abortion. The victim, who was three months pregnant, told police the man said to her, “I’m going to beat that baby out of you.”^C27
 

Man Admits on Tape to Giving Wife Abortion Drug; Tries to Convince Her She Really Wanted Abortion
An Air Force service member stationed in Alaska was dishonorably discharged and was sentenced to 9 years, six months in prison for secretly using the drug Misoprostol to force his wife to miscarry after she refused to abort. The woman later recorded her husband admitting to the act but trying to convince her that she really wanted an abortion.^C28
 

Pregnant Woman’s Body Found in Car Trunk, Husband Convicted
The body of a Florida woman who was four months pregnant was found in the trunk of a car in a parking lot. Her husband was convicted of killing her with a blow to the head, allegedly because she refused to have an abortion. According to court records, the woman told a counselor shortly before her death that her husband was abusing her.^C81

Woman Killed After Refusing Abortion, Her Body Burned
A man was sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, then putting her body in her car and setting the car on fire. Prosecutors in Van Nuys, Louisiana said he killed the woman for refusing to abort because of her religious beliefs.^C82

Molester Buys Abortion—Twins Get Seven More Years of Rape
In New Orleans, a 41-year-old man received two life sentences for raping his girlfriend’s twin daughters and using abortion to cover up his crimes. The victims testified that the assaults began when they were 10 and continued for seven years. One of the girls said she had two abortions after she became pregnant from the man when she was 15 and 17. She said the man paid for one abortion, unbeknownst to the mother. Her mother, who was told that the girl was raped by a date, paid for the second abortion.^C13

Retailer Pays $220,000 for Rejecting Pregnant Applicant
The U.S. Equal Employment Contribution settled a pregnancy discrimination suit against Walmart for failing to hire a job applicant who was pregnant. According to the lawsuit, the woman told the Assistant Manager that she was pregnant during a job interview and was told to “come back after she had the baby.” She filed a complaint after later reading in a magazine that refusing to hire someone because they are pregnant is illegal. According to the EEOC, pregnancy discrimination cases are on the rise and other companies are being investigated for firing and demoting pregnant women.^C8
 

Woman Files Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Against Maternity Clothing Retailer
Mother’s Work, a maternity clothing retailer, settled a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit charging that they fired employees after they became pregnant. One woman, a former district manager, accused the vice-president of firing her during her 37th week of pregnancy after telling her she wouldn’t be able to handle her job. The company denied any wrongdoing. ^C9

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Mother Charged with Forcing 15-Year-Old at Gunpoint into Clinic
A Florida woman was sentenced to two years community service after she pleaded guilty to forcing her daughter at gunpoint to go to an abortion clinic. According to a staff member, the mother told clinic workers that if her daughter did not have an abortion, “I’m going to blow her brains out.” Clinic workers called police, but police said the mother told staff to perform the abortion even though her daughter “may seem a bit teary.”^C12  

Ohio Man Pulls Gun, Forces Her to Drive to Abortion Clinic
An Ohio man pleaded guilty to attempted murder after he was charged for attempting to force his pregnant girlfriend to abort their child at gunpoint. ...[After she] decided not to go through with a scheduled abortion, he took out a .45 caliber handgun and said she had no choice.

Police said he then forced Burgess, who was three-months pregnant at the time, to drive to an abortion facility, where staff called police after Burgess passed them a note explaining the situation. read more (off-site)

Police Report that Oklahoma Woman Was Shot and Killed for Refusing Abortion
 Lorena Rivera, a 21-year-old legal receptionist, disappeared while on her way to work in Oklahoma City in April 1997. More than a month later, her body was found buried in a shallow grave. Rivera, 21 weeks pregnant and the mother of a three-year-old son, had been shot twice and beaten to death.

Rivera’s friends testified at her killer’s trial that Rivera was delighted to be having a baby. Apparently her 20-year-old boyfriend, Nathaniel Dee Smith, was not. Police say Smith murdered Rivera because she refused to have an abortion and he didn’t want to pay child support. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. (The Oklahoman, 6/2/99)

Toledo Woman Shot After Refusing to Abort
Sonya Hayes of Toledo, Ohio, refused to abort because of her religious convictions. Her boyfriend, Terrance Davis, 27, allegedly shot her in the stomach, killing her and her unborn son. Prosecutors have said it was obvious that the gunman was aiming for the unborn child when he fired the gun. (Associated Press, 2/8/00)
 

Australian Killed Husband After Forced Abortions

An Australian woman will serve at least 18 months in prison for killing her husband, whom she says raped her and used threats to force her to have two abortions.

Yun Young Ko, a Korean native, told police she could “hear a baby crying” when she stabbed her husband, Shin Woong Ha, to death in August 1999. In setting a maximum sentence of four years in prison, the judge ruled that Ko was “substantially impaired” by severe depression and that Ha’s brutal treatment of her had caused her to lose control. (Source: Australian Associated Press, Dec. 11, 2000)

Sex-Selective Abortion: China's 'Vow' to Crack Down an Empty Promise?

... [American] CNN's Ted Turner injected new energy into this movement during the 2010 climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, when he stated that the whole world should adopt the One Child Policy.

"Make no mistake. China's One Child Policy is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. Women are dragged out of their homes, strapped to tables, and forced to abort babies they want, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. Women sometimes die during these violent procedures. The One Child Policy is China's war on women. Adopting it world wide would hurl women's rights back to the dark ages." more (off-site)

Watch a four-minute video exposing the truth about forced abortion in China: www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=219

US Reports on Forced Abortion in China, North Korea

According to a 2002 annual report on human rights, both China and North Korea have engaged in coercive population control programs.

The report notes that forced abortions and infanticide have been carried out in prisons in North Korea, and that the Chinese government has engaged in “violence against women” through its family planning program, which includes “imposition of a birth limitation policy coercive in nature that resulted in instances of forced abortion and forced sterilization.” The report can be viewed at www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002.

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Pregnancy help & resources
Post-abortion help, tips and resources

Help for those being coerced or forced into unwanted abortions (off-site link)
Help for parents of teens or teens being coerced or forced into an unwanted abortion (off-site)