A Sensible Approach to Reducing Abortions

One of the most passionate issues in the culture wars is the question of how the government should legislate abortion.  Abortion has been legal in the U.S. since 1973, when the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision was handed down.  The decision launched bitter disputes between pro-choice and pro-life groups and has had a significant impact on political and judicial life in the U.S. since that time.

What makes this topic so divisive is its intersection with religious, personal liberty and moral questions. To many religious people who feel that a fetus is already a child of God, it is incomprehensible to allow an abortion.  To many others, it is incomprehensible that the state can legislate any control over a woman’s body, including its reproductive organs.

Here are some basic facts about abortion before and after Roe vs. Wade:

• Abortions occurred in large number (estimates vary but range between several hundred thousand and well over a million) before 1973.  Wealthy and middle class women could always get abortions by traveling to a place where they were legal.  Poor women obtained abortions too, but generally through providers with limited medical expertise and/or facilities, and often suffered serious health consequences.
• The history of abortion is closely related to the history of contraception and sexual practices.  It was only in 1965 that the supreme court struck down laws against distributing contraception to married couples, and only in 1972 to unmarried couples!
• The primary quasi-official statistics on the number of induced abortions per year, which the CDC tracks from state-submitted data, are
• 1972 (pre-decision) – 587,000
• 1973 – 616,000
•  Increasing steadily to a peak in 1990 at 1,429,000
• Decreasing steadily thereafter to 2017 level of 616,000
• Public opinions on abortion vary year to year but have generally shown that a majority support some legal abortion at least through the first trimester of pregnancy.
• Individual states have enacted laws to restrict abortions and/or make it more difficult for providers to offer abortions.  Some of these laws have been struck down by the judiciary, but they have definitely made abortions more difficult in some states.

There is debate about why abortions have declined substantially from 1990 to the present.  The availability of contraceptives, particularly long-term IUDs, and the efforts to publicize birth control methods and teach sex education are certainly major factors.  It is also argued by pro-life groups that the restrictions in some states have reduced the number of abortions.  However, abortions have declined almost equally in both states with restrictions and those without.  The number of unwanted pregnancies and teen pregnancies have declined dramatically over that period.  

The rate of teen pregnancy declined from 59.9 per thousand teens in 1990 to 20.3 per thousand in 2016.  An amazing and very encouraging statistic!  This was certainly NOT due to changes in sexual practices, but due to use of contraceptives.  The U.S. still has the largest teen pregnancy rate of any developed country.  I would guess that it is primarily due to lack of sex education and availability of contraceptives, a situation we could fairly easily address.

Does anyone really want to go back to the days of back alley abortions?  Many of those who have rallied to the banner of pro-life were not around before Roe v. Wade and are not aware of how many tragic deaths and medical problems resulted from desperate attempts at abortion.  Unless we establish a draconian police state, a change in law will simply change where and how abortions occur, not whether they occur.  There might be less abortions, but probably not significantly less.  The availability now of chemical forms of abortion has changed the game and these chemicals would certainly go underground if the laws changed.  They would be easily obtained and create a new ‘drug war’ that would benefit no one. 

The obvious middle ground on the abortion issue is for all parties to avoid the emotional polemics and rally around the  common goal of reducing abortions.  We must recognize that the most realistic and effective way to accomplish this is to make contraception readily available to every woman (and man) and to encourage parents to face the facts of the current sexual culture and counsel their children on the use of contraceptives.  Sexual practices may change over time, but it is delusional to think that denying young people contraceptives will somehow result in less premarital or teen sex and the resultant abortions.

We will never completely satisfy those who think that abortion is a murderous sin that can never be allowed.  But neither should we be cavalier about abortion, for many good reasons.

The coming battles in the Supreme Court are likely to cause great emotional turmoil on all sides.  Like so many Supreme Court issues, the constitutional issues are a smokescreen and the war is really over the evolution of how people view our society, our ethics, our morals, our principles, religion and life itself.  The Supreme Court can lead or it can be dragged into the future.  Contraception, like premarital sex, is a fact of life and will never again be outlawed.  Abortion is primarily a by-product of inadequate contraception and ignorance.  Everyone wants fewer abortions – let’s work together to achieve that goal.