# Ellen Goodman abortion column **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544 "2004-05-28T17:24:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/1 "2004-05-28T17:24:34Z")
[Link to column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040528.html) You wrote: > [@](#): > > I didn’t Google Ms. Goodman to determine when she was born; I’ll just say that if she’s pushing 80, as her statement “those of us who remember . . . when 10,000 American women a year died from illegal abortions” would imply, she’s remarkably well preserved. …so, to do my part in eradicating ignorance, I did. Took me all of 2 minutes to determine that she was born in 1941. [Cite.](http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0880174.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/2 "2004-05-28T17:45:07Z")
I had actually wanted to write a big rant about this this morning, using that same idea you had. I’m just hoping that we don’t open the Reader one week and there’s a link to Snopes in it. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/3 "2004-05-28T19:57:38Z")
Something about the forest and the trees. Cecil is almost always willing to sacrfice irrelevant facts for a good joke. His point was that the 10,000 number would have been maximum guess of the range in 1940, and that Ms. Goodman wouldn’t “remember” that. Rather than be bland about at, and find her exact birthdate, Cecil thought it would be funnier to word it as he did. He didn’t say that he COULDN’T do the Google search, only that he DIDn’t. He preferred the joke about “remarkably well preserved.” Plus, he’s sometimes old-fashioned enough that he wouldn’t want to reveal a woman’s age in public. I know, I know, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/4 "2004-05-28T20:15:54Z")
My WAG is that most deaths due to complications during abortion were not listed as such. Instead, most abortion deaths were ruled “accidental” and due to a “perforated uterus” or “perforated bladder or bowel,” or just to “acute peritonitis.” You won’t find much but anecdotal evidence for the number of deaths due to illegal abortion. If, however, you talk to the older folk among us, if they are open enough to even talk about it, just like most of us at least know of someone who died from AIDS, most of our septagenarians and octagenarians knew of someone who died from an abortion. It sometimes seems that legal abortion clinics do not do a too much better job. My sister is a nurse at a hospital that receives “patients” from a nearby abortion clinic. Preforations still occur, and the newer “vacuuming” technique will sometimes suck a uterus inside out. While the damage ratio may be low considering the number of abortions performed, abortion is definitely not a procedure to be taken lightly. ---
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/5 "2004-05-29T15:41:27Z")
Hi, my name is grettle and I’m addicted to grammar. \ Could we possibly get Ed Zotti to masterfully edit the mistake in this sentence: quote: For those of you thinking Goodman was wrong in saying birth control was once illegal – sorry, there’s she right. It bothers me for such a smart website. Thanks :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ellen-goodman-abortion-column/247544/6 "2004-05-29T16:29:51Z")
Argh. Fixed. Thanks.