“Globally from 2010 through 2014, 35 abortions were performed per 1,000 women of reproductive age, down from 40 abortions per 1,000 women. The decrease was driven primarily by reductions in countries with liberal abortion laws, where abortion rates dropped from 46 per 1,000 women to 27. Conversely, developing regions – including 93 percent of the countries with the most restrictive abortion laws – saw only a drop from 39 to 36 abortions per 1,000 women…The data show that, while stricter abortion laws do not lead to fewer abortions, preventing unwanted pregnancies has a significant effect on reducing the number of terminations…In countries where laws permit abortion only to save the life of the mother, the abortion rate is higher at 37 per 1,000 women than the rate of 34 abortions per 1,000 in countries without such restrictions…In 2018 abortions in the United States hit an all time low.”
Effective contraception is the most effective deterrent to having to confront the difficult decision to abort or not, and the education and social status of women in developed countries better empowers them to control their pregnancies. Ideally, if an unwanted baby is born, and the mother does not offer it for adoption, that mother has both the emotional and financial support to raise the child in a loving, supportive environment. If not, then the moral question of aborting a fetus becomes the question of assuring that a child does not suffer from neglect-or worse. In the United States, there are public safety nets to assist needy mothers, yet far more money is spent on weapons and conflicts financed by American tax dollars. Hopefully, some of the outrage against killing unborn babies is being channeled into stopping American supported violence that kills innocent children around the world. All unnecessary killing should be avoided.
When discussing the sanctity of life, it is common for people to assume that human life is the most precious. After all, we are human and have an inherent bias towards our own species. From a larger, historical perspective, Nature does not assume that our species has a privileged position over other species; extinction has been a normal part of lifes history. So for as much as we like to believe that we are special, with a little empathy and an inclusive vision, it is easy to value other species as having a similar right to life as a human fetus. But over population and resource depletion by humanity are slowly causing the next mass extinction-perhaps including ourselves-so from that perspective it is hard to argue the moral high ground regarding human fetuses. Again, all unnecessary killing should be avoided.
In any case, the decision to abort a child is a difficult one for every woman, and to condense the complexities of that decision to a dogmatic religious doctrine oversimplifies their emotional turmoil. Is to choose life a preferable, positive choice? No doubt, but the perspectives leading to that choice demand that compassion for pregnant mothers is included in the discussion.
