Thanks to affordable and easily accessible birth control, the rate of abortions in the United States is at its lowest point since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortions in 1973.
The Affordable Care Act deserves much of the credit. By law, most health insurance plans must fully cover the cost of contraceptives.
Clearly, reducing the number of pregnancies leads to fewer abortions.
Overwhelmingly, women prefer birth control not abortion in regulating the size of their families, according to a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute. But until Obamacare was passed in 2011, the cost of birth control put it out of reach for many. Birth control pills cost about $600 a year. Long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs and implants average $1,300. With health insurance or Medicaid, they are free.
The rate of abortions in the U.S. peaked at 1.6 million in 1990. Todays abortion rate has dropped to less than half of that, or about 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44. In other words, in a years time, slightly more than 1% of U.S. women get an abortion.
Truly, this is news to celebrate.
BUT SOMEHOW, were not in the mood.
Instead, weve found a way to convert this good news as yet another battle in our raging culture wars. Choosing sides on the abortion debate seems to matter more than working together to improve womens health, rendering most conversations about abortion meaningless and frustrating. The die has already been cast. Facts seem not to matter as much as snap judgement and internet memes.
Consider that even while abortions are now at a historic low, statistics show about 1 in 4 women will have an abortion by age 45. Stigmatizing and shaming so many of our sisters, daughters and friends as murderers or monsters doesnt do any good. It merely shuts down honest and open conversations about abortion and the underlying issues at play in such a difficult decision.
And rather than working to further our success in curbing abortions through effective birth control such as expanding Medicaid there are those who turn their focus on robbing women of the ability to decide their reproductive rights.
When the Kansas Supreme Court ruled our state constitution grants women such rights, anti-abortion advocates became livid.
Were angry and were motivated, said Mary Kay Culp, executive director for Kansans for Life.
In a recent interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, Culp said she is determined to get a vote on Novembers ballot to pass a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, and is heavily lobbying state legislators to accede.
Three-fourths of Americans say they dont want to see abortion outlawed, according to a PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll conducted this summer.
States that have ruled abortions may be performed only in the first six weeks of pregnancy if at all, such as in the case of Alabama are hoping for a Supreme Court challenge that will overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that affirmed a womans right to an abortion up until a fetus is determined viable outside of the womb, generally in the 24-28 week period of a pregnancy.
MORE THAN ever, abortion is being cast as a litmus test of the strength of ones faith or their allegiance to country.
Its basis lies in neither.
And to have it treated as such is nothing short of calculated manipulation.
Susan Lynn
