Ever since President Bill Clinton introduced his succinct position on abortion: "safe, legal, and rare," the goal of reducing the number of abortions has been a stated aim of abortion rights as well as anti-abortion groups. Last year, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama promised the pope that he would make efforts to reduce the number of abortions in the United States.
But should decreasing abortion rates be a stated goal of the reproductive-justice movement? Aimée Thorne-Thomsen says no. She makes the case that we should instead focus on increasing all options for women, expanding their liberty to make the right choice for them:
If the 1.21 million abortions that took place in 2005 represent the number of women who needed abortions (and in my opinion, if a woman decides she needs an abortion, then she does), as well as the many women who chose to terminate pregnancies that they very much wanted but could not afford to carry to term, then that number is too high. [...]
On the other hand, if those 1.21 million abortions represent only the women who could access abortion financially, geographically or otherwise, then that number is too low. Yes, too low.
Considering that 88 percent of all counties have no abortion provider, it's likely that increasing access to abortion would increase the number of abortions. However, undertaking other reproductive-justice goals, like providing comprehensive assistance to mothers living in poverty, would reduce the abortion rate. There has been considerable research as to why women get abortions but not as much as to why women don't get abortions.
Thorne-Thomsen's argument also made me realize that we need a radical shift in the public discourse about abortion. It's not just about disposing of the notion that our goal should be to make abortion rare. Abortion rights are often regarded as a "niche" issue, a political football centered on control of women's bodies. But the reasons that women do and don't get abortions extend to every aspect of our lives, from work to education to public benefits to health care to financial institutions to housing.
Making it simultaneously easier for women to get abortions and easier for them to have children involves deep, systemic changes to our culture and public life. Those changes will benefit both women and men.
--Silvana Naguib
