I sometimes find it strange that in the decades since the Pill became widely accessible, unplanned pregnancies have become just so much more common, and so have abortions. With its 99.9% efficacy rate, it would seem that Pill access and use would forever end the challenge of unplanned pregnancies. This is clearly not the case.
Every year, about 45% of all pregnancies in the U.S. are said to be unwanted, according to the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, dedicated to “advancing sexual and reproductive health in the United States.” Interestingly enough, Guttmacher also reports that more than 99% of women aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method and 62% of all women of reproductive age are currently using a contraceptive method. Clearly, birth control is widely used amongst women in the U.S. one time or another. Clearly, it has not necessarily diminished unwanted pregnancies.
Reading an interview with Ann Furedi, the former director of British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Britain’s largest abortion provider, it is not difficult to see the correlation between society’s contraception mentality and the widespread use of abortion as a way to deal with unwanted or unplanned pregnancies:
Often, arguments for increased access to contraception and for new contraceptive technologies are built on the assumption that these developments will bring down the abortion rate. The anti-choice movement counter that this does not seem to be the case in practice. Arguably they are right. Access to effective contraception creates an expectation that women can control their fertility and plan their families. Given that expectation, women may be less willing to compromise their plans for the future. In the past, many women reluctantly accepted that an unplanned pregnancy would lead to maternity. Unwanted pregnancies were dutifully, if resentfully, carried to term. In days when sex was expected to carry the risk of pregnancy, an unwanted child was a chance a woman took. Today, we expect sex to be free from that risk and unplanned maternity is not a price we are prepared to pay.
It is clear that women cannot manage their fertility by means of contraception alone.
Contraception lets couples down. A recent survey of more than 2000 women requesting abortions at clinics run by BPAS, Britain’s largest abortion provider, found that almost 60% claim to have been using contraception at the time they became pregnant. Nearly 20% said that they were on the pill. Such findings are comparable to several other smaller studies published during the last decade… It is clear that contraceptives let couples down… The simple truth is that the tens of thousands of women who seek abortion each year are not ignorant of contraception. Rather they have tried to use it, indeed they may have used it, and become pregnant regardless.
Well there we go, the solution to ending abortion is not simply more birth control. Often when discussing abortion, a misguided pro-lifer will say: “Sure I’m against abortion. In this day and age women can prevent pregnancies. Just use a condom!” Clearly this mentality only increases abortion numbers.
Sure, there are many reasons as to why a couple may wish to delay pregnancy ( health, finances, etc…). And no, the Church does not want women to be “oppressed” or “barefoot and pregnant” (as if understanding and revering your fertility was oppressive). Natural Family Planning is an effective and moral way to delay or achieve pregnancies that takes into consideration a woman’s natural cycles. Moreover, it does not create unreasonable expectations (no pun intended) of “conquering” or “suppressing” one’s fertility.
The bottom line is, contraception does not lead to fewer abortions. Only respect and appreciation for the gift of life and fertility does.
About The Contributor
