Why Abortions Are Down<\/a> by William Saletan in Slate.<\/p>\nThe Text:<\/strong> The abortion rate has fallen again. It\u2019s at its lowest level since 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was handed down. What\u2019s causing the decline? Should we be happy about it? Can we learn anything from it?<\/p>\nThe answer to the first question isn\u2019t entirely clear. But the answers to the next two are yes and yes. Pro-lifers are right that the decline is a good thing. And pro-choicers are right that what\u2019s causing the decline\u2014and will keep it going, if we\u2019re smart\u2014is women making these decisions on their own.<\/p>\n
The numbers were reported Monday by two researchers from the Guttmacher Institute. They show a 13 percent drop in the abortion rate from 2008 to 2011, continuing a long-term decline that seemed to have stalled. Some pro-lifers don\u2019t believe the numbers. But the National Right to Life Committee does, and is happy to take credit for them. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to NRLC President Carol Tobias, the decline hows that women are rejecting the idea of abortion as the answer to an unexpected pregnancy. This latest report from Guttmacher shows the long-term efforts of the right-to-life movement to educate the country about the humanity of the unborn child and to enact laws that help children and their mothers are having a tremendous impact.<\/p>\n
Pro-choicers don\u2019t buy this spiel. They say the abortion rate is down thanks to contraception. Planned Parenthood points out that alongside the abortion decline, \u201cbirths were also down,\u201d demonstrating \u201cthe importance of affordable, accessible birth control.\u201d Slate\u2019s Amanda Marcotte agrees.<\/p>\n
The best evidence for the pro-life theory is that, as the NRLC\u2019s Dave Andrusko points out, the abortion ratio\u2014 the percentage of non-miscarried pregnancies that were aborted\u2014declined. That is, the percentage of pregnant women who chose to give birth increased. But this theory has problems. First, the decline in the abortion ratio was only half as big, in percentage terms, as the decline in the abortion rate. In other words, most of the decline in the number of abortions, relative to the overall number of women aged 15\u201344, was due to a reduction in pregnancies, not to pregnant women choosing life. In fact, the birthrate didn\u2019t increase. It fell by 9 percent.<\/p>\n
Second, the laws don\u2019t match the abortion numbers geographically. As the Guttmacher report notes,<\/p>\n
[W]hile most of the new laws [against abortion] were enacted in states in the Midwest and the South, abortion incidence declined in all regions, and the number of clinics fell only in the Northeast and the West. Finally, a number of states that did not enact any new abortion restrictions and that are generally supportive of abortion rights\u2014for example, by allowing state Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for eligible women\u2014experienced declines in their abortion rates comparable to, and sometimes greater than, the national decline.<\/p>\n
The birth-control theory also has problems. The researchers concede that \u201clittle improvement in contraceptive nonuse among all women at risk of unintended pregnancy has been seen in recent years.\u201d But more narrowly, they observe,<\/p>\n
Between 2007 and 2009, the level of nonuse among women younger than 30 decreased from 15% to 12% (a statistically significant change). In addition, substantial shifts in the contraceptive method mix away from less effective methods have been observed, particularly toward uptake of LARC [long-acting, reversible contraception] methods, such as the IUD. In 2002, only 2% of contraceptive users were relying on LARC methods, but this proportion rose to 9% in 2009. If LARC use continued to increase during the study period, this could help explain the national decline in abortion incidence.<\/p>\n
The report adds that from 2006 to 2010, \u201cLARC use among women accessing publicly funded contraceptive services increased from 4% to 11%.\u201d During this time, \u201cThe estimated number of unintended pregnancies averted by federally funded family planning programs increased by 15% over this period (from 1.9 million to 2.2 million).\u201d That\u2019s a big help\u2014and a good reason for everyone to support these programs, not defund them.<\/p>\n
The NRLC hasn\u2019t disputed birth control as a factor in the abortion decline. And why should it? You don\u2019t have to oppose contraception to oppose abortion. Instead, the NRLC defends pro-life education as a factor. Rebutting Guttmacher\u2019s analysis, the NRLC argues that disparities between states that passed pro-life laws and states that experienced abortion declines miss the larger cultural impact of these laws. As Tobias puts it:<\/p>\n
The legislative efforts of the right-to-life movement, and significantly, the resulting national debate and educational campaigns surrounding pro-life legislation should not be minimized when discussing the decline in abortion numbers. The more Americans learn about the development of the unborn child and the tragedy of abortion, the more they reject abortion as a legitimate answer to an unexpected pregnancy.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s striking about this argument is how indirect it is. The notion is that by enacting legal restrictions in one state, you\u2019re affecting the moral convictions of women in other states. In philosophy, this concept, in simpler form, is known as legal moralism. It\u2019s the same logic often used to justify drug laws: Even if the laws don\u2019t work well or have serious unintended consequences, we need them to express and promote society\u2019s belief that drug abuse is bad.<\/p>\n
Legal moralism is losing its grip on this country, and for good reason. People are becoming more sophisticated in their thinking about public policy. They want to know not just whether drugs, guns, or abortions are unsavory or dangerous, but whether the law you\u2019re proposing would actually improve the situation. We have too much bad experience with prohibition.<\/p>\n
If the strongest argument pro-lifers can make, in terms of their effect on the abortion rate, is that their moral message is persuading individual women, then why not focus more on that and less on legislation? Culturally, most pro-life bills are a waste of time. The NRLC attributes a recent 18 percent decline in abortions in Illinois to the \u201cpublic discussion\u201d prompted by media coverage of the state\u2019s 1995 law requiring parental notice for a minor\u2019s abortion. Come on. That\u2019s an obvious self-delusion.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no need to choose between contraception, choice, and a culture of life. You can use birth control precisely because you don\u2019t want to risk an abortion. You can acknowledge the immorality of abortion, relative to pregnancy prevention, without abandoning the individual as the decision-maker. Together, the cultural message and the technical means can drive down the abortion rate. Everybody wins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: Why Abortions Are Down by William Saletan in Slate. The Text: The abortion rate has fallen again. It\u2019s at its lowest level since 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was handed down. What\u2019s causing the decline? Should we be happy about it? Can we learn anything from it? The answer to the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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