The Myth of Irresponsibility
People have commented to me lately that with so many types of birth control available, women just need to be responsible and there won’t be a need for abortions. These people aren’t really thinking it through.
First of all, birth control, like everything, fails sometimes. There is no irresponsibility in that. Taking into account the fact that abortion rates have plummeted in the last forty years even though the U.S. population has grown by over a hundred million people – meaning roughly 50 million more women - in the same time span, and people are obviously “being responsible” with contraception. I say “people” and not “women”, because, although many women bear the burden of contraception alone, not all do. No one should ever lose sight of the fact that it is in the interest of both partners not to produce a child until they’re ready.
But the considerations this blinkered approach misses are critical. First of all, women can get pregnant whether sex is voluntary or involuntary. It’s not “irresponsible” to get pregnant as a result of rape or incest. No one should have to gestate an embryo produced through an act of violence. Second, sometimes the pregnancy goes wrong. Between 40% and 75% of pregnancies result in miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion. Women have ectopic pregnancies, in which the fetus ALWAYS dies and, if untreated – with an abortion - the mother may die, too. Sometimes miscarriages don’t proceed normally, resulting in what is known as incomplete miscarriage. If left untreated – with an abortion – the mother risks infection, which could result in infertility or death. Ectopic pregnancies and incomplete miscarriages are not caused by “irresponsibility”. Abortions are health care.
Miscarriages generally happen because the fetus is defective somehow. But some defective fetuses make it to birth, only to die afterward. Tay-Sachs disease is always fatal. The baby is born appearing perfectly normal, develops normally for a year or two, then begins to regress and soon dies, generally between 3 and 5 years of age. Lack of reproductive responsibility does not cause Tay-Sachs or any other fatal disease or birth defect.
Lastly, blaming the need for abortion on irresponsibility completely ignores the fact that children as young as 10 years old experience menarche and are fertile thereafter. I am quoting a friend here:
“In the US, it has been decided that the government can't require a covid vaccine for a 12 year old. The government can't require a 12 year old to wear a mask in school (even though there are still over 2,000 people dying from covid every week in the United states and over 1,000 children have died from Covid. ). And even though a pregnancy for a 12 year old is far more dangerous than a vaccine shot, the same government can force a 12 year old to stay pregnant and to have a baby despite the real risks of pregnancy.” And despite the fact that she is still a child herself.
A 12 year old forced to go through with a pregnancy can expect to develop preeclampsia, to have a low birth weight child, to give birth prematurely, and has an increased likelihood of birth complications resulting in infant death. Pregnancy before 17 years of age is a high risk pregnancy, because the pregnant person’s body is still developing. She is not physically prepared to produce a baby.
Being responsible does not always prevent unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. Abortion is health care.