What we know from plentiful studies and countless horrific tales is that women who don’t want to be pregnant will do anything to not be- they will throw themselves down stairs, have people beat their stomachs, drink bleach and other caustic substances, stick coat-hangers and pencils into their cervices, commit suicide.
The funny thing is, we know how to reduce the number of abortions!
How can we do this? Allow me to explain.
1) It requires de-stigmatizing single motherhood, because if you know you will be constantly vilified, called a welfare queen, blamed for all of society’s ills, and condemned to raising children who will be worse off than those with two-parent homes, why would you want to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term? It requires not excusing men from fatherhood by eliminating the burden of disproportional responsibility for childcare and challenging the stereotype that men are naturally poor at it (because every burden placed on being a mother is one less reason to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term.)
2) It requires assuring women and enshrining in law that their health and life is not less important than that of their fetus, because women who want children but may face life-threatening complications with their pregnancies will terminate if doctors are going to let them die (or will terminate if they know they will be vilified and shunned for choosing a life-saving abortion rather than sacrificing themselves.)
3) It requires addressing the vast and endemic poverty in our nation, because pregnancy, birth, and child-rearing are so expensive that even women who want children are often hesitant to carry a pregnancy to term when they are not financially stable, if not well-off (in 2004, 73% of women who aborted said they did so because “I can’t afford a baby right now”). This requires lobbying for better, cheaper, and more expansive health care, universal coverage, and access to cheap or free prenatal care. It can mean the promotion of home birthing (given that the average cost of giving birth in a hospital without insurance is about $8,000). It requires supporting a vast array of legislative and non-governmental aid measures that help poor mothers and families clothe, feed, house, and educate their children so that she can be confident that carrying to term will not negatively affect her life or that of her other children. It requires vast funding, resources, and support structures for the disabled- because a fetus with disabilities is one many women know they cannot give an adequate future. And beyond poverty, it requires ensuring our collective fate- because women with unwanted pregnancies worried about war, global warming, etc. are those most likely to ask themselves “Is it right to bring a child into a world so full of violence and pain?” It also requires acknowledging that it is wrong to force or manipulate women into giving up their children for adoption (given the excess of children to open homes and the psychological toll of adoption compared to the opposite in abortion), but still working to make the process easier (90% of potential parents who express interest in adopting children from foster care do not wind up doing so because of frustrations within the system) and de-stigmatizing giving your child up for adoption (more than a third of women who aborted in this study volunteered that adoption was “a morally unconscionable because giving one’s child away is wrong”.)
4) It requires re-shaping society so that women need not choose between children and the various forms of fulfillment currently offered to the child-free (namely, but not solely, career). And that requires having a child be manageable by demanding paid maternal (and paternal) leave, flexible work schedules, and affordable or free childcare. If a woman has to fear that she will lose her job (or not get hired in the first place) as a result of having children, then she has a strong incentive to terminate any unplanned pregnancy that threatens her livelihood and creative fulfillment in her profession. 74% of women who aborted in 2004 reported that one of their reasons was because it would dramatically change their lives, including interfering with their education or jobs.
5) It requires fighting and overturning legislation that makes early abortion harder to obtain. Considering that 58% of women seeking abortion (and 91% of those seeking it in their second trimester) report that they would have preferred to have their procedure earlier, the vast number of laws that make doing so more difficult are nonsensical. Part of turning the images from graphic rally signs into the petri dish is to stop tactics that delay abortion (like mandatory waiting periods,unnecessary clinic visits, etc.) and to ensure access through more providers (88% of counties do not have one, meaning that burdensome travel is required) and unique solutions like telemedicine.
6) It requires mandating and providing quality, comprehensive sex education that teaches how pregnancy happens, and all the various and diverse ways of how to avert it (i.e. not just condoms). It requires abolishing abstinence-only education, because not only does it have a failure rate between 26% and 86%, but it has been proven to make students less likely to use birth control when they have sex. It requires getting rid of the stigma that surrounds sex (especially very stigmatized sex like that between teenagers, pre-marital or non-marital couples, casual sex, etc.), because such stigma forces people to not use or readily have available birth control (lest someone see the condom in their wallet or the pills in her drawer and find out their “shameful secret” of having sex; society is far more forgiving of those who say “I was trying to wait and abstain, but I just got swept away and it happened.” than those who say “Yes, I am having sex and I’m not sorry about it, and I am taking precautions to protect myself.”). It requires encouraging everybody- teens and adults alike- to always keep [valid, non-expired] birth control in their homes or even on their person, for those times when they are, in fact, swept away. It requires acknowledging valid sexual desires and sexual rights of our youth, while still educating them about self-esteem, and providing and adequately funding support structures and necessary programs that are often cut, like sports, music, and art.
It’s clear, and I think I’ve demonstrated this more than adequately above, that our ideal (pregnancy is easily avoidable for the vast majority, motherhood/parenting is appealing rather than prohibitively burdensome) does not yet match our reality.
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