Abortion is arguably the most polarized issue in American politics. Nearly everyone has an opinion and most of those opinions are strictly for or against. Unlike gun control or health care, there is little middle ground, and most find it difficult to empathize with the other side’s opinion. However, what many don’t consider is that there are two separate aspects of this debate: the ethical and the practical.
The ethical aspect is what makes it highly contested and seems to be what we focus on most. One’s opinion about whether abortion is ethical or not largely depends on how you view human life and, to a larger extent, their whole ideology. If one views all human life as sacred, no matter what form it is in, then the killing of a fetus would be tantamount to murder. On the other hand, if one believes that human life is valuable for its sentience, the ethics become more ambiguous as it begs the question of where you draw the line. After all, if killing an unborn child is wrong, what about killing eggs or sperm, the components of a potential child? Is that also murder? Therefore, the pro choice ethical argument becomes why prioritize a non-sentient being’s life over the welfare of a fully developed one (the mother)?
The point is that neither of these views are wrong. Each are valid as they are entirely dependent on one’s ideology. Unfortunately, this also means that logic cannot win this argument and that the two sides are irreconcilable. However, there are several facts and statistics that must be considered when we talk about abortion.
In a collaboration between the World Health Organization and Guttenmacher Institute, a study was conducted that looked at abortion rates around the world and the effect of legalization of abortion on it. The study concluded that countries where abortion is illegal has similar rates of abortion to those where it is legal. Dr. Paul van Look, director of the World Health Organization’s department of Reproductive Health and Research, said that “we now have a global picture of induced abortion in the world, covering both countries where it is legal and countries where laws are very restrictive […] What we see is that the law does not influence a woman’s decision to have an abortion. If there’s an unplanned pregnancy, it does not matter if the law is restrictive or liberal.”
Furthermore, while making abortion illegal does not reduce abortion rates, what it does reduce is access to safe abortions. In countries that regulate the administration of abortions, it’s hard to find qualified medical specialists that are willing to perform the operation. As a result, women resort to desperate and sometimes even fatal measures to receive one. According to Guttenmacher Institute, it is estimated that 8-18% of maternal deaths are the result of unsafe abortions, and in 2014 alone, up to 44,000 women died due to abortion-related causes.
The problem is amplified when all abortion is criminalized in all situations. This is the case in El Salvador, where the largest cause of death (57%) of pregnant women aged 10-19 is suicide, often because they are forced to carry the child of their rapist. What’s more is that because law enforcement often can’t determine if the death of a fetus is the result of deliberate termination or simply a natural death, women who miscarry are often arrested and doctors are hesitant to help with a miscarriage as they could be charged with aiding in an abortion.
When all of these statistics are considered, the conclusion is clear. Making abortion illegal is not only ineffective at decreasing abortion rates, but it is also a huge detriment for women’s health and safety. In twisted irony, if pro-lifers had their way, more lives would be taken instead of saved.
That being said, there are alternative methods that have been proven to decrease abortion rates. Access to contraception partnered with effective sex education in schools have been shown to decrease the rate of unwanted pregnancies, thereby reducing the abortion rates. This trend is visible over the past couple of years: in 2015, a report by the Associated Press found that abortion rates dropped 12% nationally from 2010. Many state that this is in large part due to the effect of the Affordable Care Act, which made contraceptives easier to obtain, especially for younger and financially-challenged women.
The question of whether abortion is ethical or not will never be agreed upon. However, these statistics are straight-forward and suggest a clear solution to promote women’s health and reduce abortions: legalize abortion and encourage safe sex. As difficult as it is, we must put aside idealism in favor of practicality when it comes to politics.
