According to the CDC there were 820,151 legal abotions in the United States in 2005 (most recent year for which CDC has completed an estimate). Of these, only 11.4% occurred after the 12th week of gestation.
According to The Common Wealth Fund (a foundation committed to better health service), an estimated 101,000 die every year from deaths that would have been preventable by access to timely and effective health care.
Specifically, from the Common Wealth Fund's report
In "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine compare trends in deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care. Specifically, they looked at deaths "amenable to health care before age 75 between 1997–98 and 2002–03."
Nolte and McKee found that while other countries made strides and saw these types of deaths decline by an average of 16%, the U.S. experienced only a 4% decline. "It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the U.S.," said Nolte, lead author of the study. The authors also note that "it is difficult to disregard the observation that the slow decline in U.S. amenable mortality has coincided with an increase in the uninsured population, an issue that is now receiving renewed attention in several states and among presidential candidates from both parties."
The National Right to Life Committee (nrlc.org) is pulling out all the stops (including a Drudge-like siren) to defeat health care reform due to the claimed expansion of government funded abortions in the current versions of the health care public options. 19 Blue Dog Democrats have signed a letter to Pelosi stating they would not support health care legislation that included abortion in the public health option.
Upon my perusal of NRLC website, no mention is made of the deaths attributable to inadequate access to health care. It would seem that a committed "right to life" person would be all over a publicly funded health care option that achieves what the current legislation provides if the Hyde Amendment attaches to the public health care plan.
The uncomfortable question is whether to compromise by allowing the attachment of the Hyde Amendment if it secured votes from Blue Dogs and Republicans who hold their beliefs about abortion in good faith. But the hypocrisy of the "right to life" movement in ignoring the Natalie Sarkisyans of the world while affirmatively on a "red alert" campaign to maintain a health care system responsible for over 101,000 deaths per year is an angle that could/should deligitimize the Republican opposition to health care reform with a robust public option. It would almost seem worth it to offer this compromise for the reason of exposing Republican hypocrisy because I would bet a large amount of money that the Republicans will remain opposed to any expansion of health care in order to prevent the demise of the health insurance corporation profits.