Help me debunk this crap

[Johnny B. Goode]

My neighbors, neo-conservative religious nuts, take their kids to the march for life every year. Every year, they come back with these INSANE shirts.

Their latest says: "I survived. One third of my generation was aborted."

This is obviously BS, but I don't no any actual numbers.

Does anybody???

[Kierkegaard]

1. Well

if the numbers are right, it sounds like the wrong third was aborted here.
Try this: http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_fact.htm

[quaoar]

2. Try these

Although it's not as far off as you might think.

According to the CDC, there were about 4.1 million live births in the U.S. in 2003.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/nvsr53_02.pdf

According to this site:

http://womensissues.about.com/cs/abortionstats/a/aaabortionstats.htm

there are about 1.37 million abortions each year in the U.S.

That means about 25 percent. Of course, it doesn't count planned pregnancies that miscarry.

[Julien Sorel]

3. Your neighbors are actually almost correct, from what I can tell.

In 1995 (I assume his kids are around 10), there were 1.2 million abortions. (Source) There were about 3.9 million live births that year. (Source) So it's actually not quite 1/4, not the 1/3 claimed by your neighbor, of pregnancies that ended in abortion that year. It's a little screwy though, as some of those would be repeaters -- the same woman having multiple abortions -- which wouldn't be an option if she were forced to carry to term, obviously (takes 9 months to have a baby). And of course, who can say what impact making abortion illegal would have on pregnancy rates?

At the end of the day, it's just another emotional appeal.

[quaoar]

4. Perhaps a better way to debunk the neighbors

Is a T-shirt that says:

"I prospered. A third (or whatever %) of my generation is unwanted, unloved, malnourished, uneducated or already dead