Superbowl Myth Has More Lives Than a Cat

TheRealityCheck.org ^ | February 3, 2005 | Trudy W. Schuett

[KC_Conspirator]

My favorite Twain quote "Better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".

[Modernman]

During the Texas kidnapping of the pregnant woman, it kept being reported that murder was the Number One Cause of death of pregnant women (about 1300 since 1990.) One reporter did point out that this is because pre-natal care is so good that women don't die from pre-natal complications.

A local anchor-babe said that "Despite increases in automobile safety, car accidents are still the #1 cause of death for children aged 5 and under."

Moron. Something has to be the #1 cause of death. What percentage of kids today die in car accidents as opposed to the % of kids who used to die by cholera or giant hyena?

[Modernman]

Corollary advice: Halftime is not a good moment to talk about your "feelings."

Expecially if hubby bet the mortgage money.

[OKSooner]

It's not a tagline.

It's a gratuitous pointless statement stuck into the middle of a thread that I'm trying to read and benefit from. It's causing me, and many other people who are also sick of it, to have to check the name on each post before reading so we can know whether to ignore it or not.

[Fido969]

"During the Texas kidnapping of the pregnant woman, it kept being reported that murder was the Number One Cause of death of pregnant women (about 1300 since 1990.)'

And this is an excellent example of reporters turning off their brains when they get a chance to parrot liberal propaganda.

1300 deaths since 1990 is about 100 deaths a year. There are about 4 million live births in the US every year.

How ignorant about basic mortality tables would you have be to believe that 100 deaths in a population of more than 4 million could possibly be the "leading cause of death"?

[Doctor Stochastic]

The population isn't 4,000,000 but rather consists of those pregnant women who die.

[Fido969]

Well, if you were looking for ions in an atomic mix, you are using the correct statistical approach. However, mortality is typically given as a part of the entire population not just the mortal population, usually per 100,000. For example, 100 out of 4 million is expressed as 2.5 per 100,000.

Now, class, who can tell me what types of typical mortality rates do we see for common causes of death in the population at large, especially those that affect folks in the typical pregnancy demographic? For example, class, please tell me typical mortality rates for auto accidents, cancer and suicide? Drownings? Sudden Brain Embolisms?

For extra credit, how do those numbers compare to the mortality rate given for pregnant women by the research reported by the Washington Post story? Much higher, eh, class?

Secondly, I happen to know a lot about the particular "research" Did you know that in order to make the number appear as high as possible, not only were pregnant women included, but any woman who was murdered who had had a baby up to a year before?

Well, now we're not just 2.5 per 100,000, we've dropped to 1.25 per 100,000. Pregnacy sounds like a pretty safe bet to me.

This claim is a complete fabrication - just like the "Superbowl Sunday" myth.