So-called "Pro-Life" Movement gets it wrong.

Nov 07, 2012 09:39


If you are really "Pro Life", and not just interested in punishing women (note that the men escape scott-free, although they are half the responsible parties) for premartial sex, perhaps its time that the "Pro-Life" movement started paying attention to facts, and not their religious bias.

If you do an analysis of the countries in the world where abortion is legal and where it is illegal, and look at the abortion rates, abortion runs at about 3% in Africa and Latin America, where it is generally illegal. In Europe, where its generally legal, it runs about half that. Half.

The only difference making abortion illegal has is that when it is illegal, women die. So if the goal is to punish women for pre-martial sex, prohibition is the best method. Historically, illegal abortion in the United States disproportionately affects the poor; the middle class and the wealthy take "vacations" to countries where it is legal and have it done.

Almost 50,000 women worldwide die each year from unsafe abortions. Clearly, the "Pro-Life" movement is badly named.

The way to save the lives of the unborn - and not merely add the numbers of those who die in unsafe abortions to the toll - requires a multi-pronged, sustained effort. This effort consists of sex education, free or trivial-cost birth control, and free or trivial-cost healthcare for pregnant women.

The irony here is that the "Pro-Life" crowd is primarily movement Conservatives, to which sex education and birth control are anathema, and that organizations that provide no-cost or low-cost pre-natal care, like Planned Parenthood, need to be de-funded and shut down. Universal healthcare is also on the Conservative "hit list", with their constant efforts to eliminate or undermine the Affordable Care Act (known far and wide as "Obamacare"). President Obama, with his championing of those issues, has done more to reduce the abortion rate than the GOP in Congress with their symbolic votes.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/6501/barack_obama,_pro-life_hero_/

Another issue that would reduce abortions is simple - stop the slut-shaming, and the stigma that the Conservatives attach to unwed mothers. Stop trying to kick out the social supports for them; the largest factor in the decision to have an abortion is that the mother cannot afford to raise a child (or another child). Make it easier for them, not harder. Religious organizations need to provide diapers and formulae and childcare services, not a mallet with which to beat the unwed mothers. Help the poor mothers, and you will reduce the number of women who feel that they have no choice but abortion.
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