Why Criminalization of Abortion Will Never Work

Those who believe any and all efforts to eliminate abortions must include criminalization, and who accuse anyone who refuses to push for criminalization of being "pro-abortion" or "pro-death" or whatever the inflammatory rhetoric of the day happens to be, have to deal with these facts:

The pills were misoprostol, a prescription drug that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for reducing gastric ulcers and that researchers say is commonly, though illegally, used within the Dominican community to induce abortion. Two new studies by reproductive-health providers suggest that improper use of such drugs is one of myriad methods, including questionable homemade potions, frequently employed in attempts to end pregnancies by women from fervently anti-abortion cultures despite the widespread availability of safe, legal and inexpensive abortions in clinics and hospitals.

The articles describes the ease with which women seeking to terminate pregnancies are able to do so in a way far removed from the doctors' office:

Physicians say that women can obtain the pills either through pharmacies that are willing to bend the rules and provide the medicine without a prescription or by having the drugs shipped from overseas.

The article focuses on the pressure that women from certain cultures experience which leads them to these "private" abortions. However, the phenomenon demonstrates that the criminalization of abortion will be almost entirely ineffective, and ultimately unenforceable, in actually reducing the number of abortions.
Remember these facts when the Bishops start their rhetoric against the FOCA strawman.