Some of you will remember my one and only abortion thread before the crash, "Two out of three ain't good," referring to "safe, legal, and rare," with an emphasis on the failure of the last of these. This thread is a resurrection and continuation of that thread. This thread is open to all who can agree to the following premise:
This is a "half-way" point that can bring both pro-choice and pro-life people together, and that is the intent. Many of us have strong opinions on this issue. I'm interested in a discussion based on more than opinion here. I'm looking at the goal of cutting the abortion rate in half, by the numbers. What is feasible: socially, politically, and with respect to religious sensitivities. What is the low-hanging fruit, and how much impact could it have.
The most determinative factor in the abortion rate is the use of birth control. As I recall from Guttmacher statistics — and I'd be interested to know if a more reliable source has become active — most unwanted pregnancies occur among those who are not using birth control, about half the population which is sexually active. Reducing the size of this population would clearly reduce the abortion rate.
But there are still substantial unwanted pregnancies from the other half of the sexually active population, those who are using birth control. This has been linked to imperfect use, preventing birth control methods from achieving their theoretical effectiveness. This can now be examined in depth, and with an added feature, looking at the effectiveness over time as the yearly failure rates compound.
The following interactive feature accompanies the opinion piece, Beyond Marriage:
Other than copper and levonorgestrel IUDs, none of these birth control methods is especially effective in practice. For example, over five years the pill is 98 percent effective theoretically, but in practice, that number is 62 percent. Over 10 years those figures are 97 and 39, respectively. Using the pill correctly could halve the abortion rate in this population — assuming that the abortion rate is proportional to the number of unwanted pregnancies and the number of unwanted pregnancies is proportional to the pregnancy rate. Again, however, the clear advantage goes to increasing the size of the population using the more effective methods.
Both of the above interventions would create a measurable reduction in the abortion rate, and could be addressed by more comprehensive sex education and improved access to family planning services.
What else?
Back in the early days of bulletin boards, it was common to mark posting milestones with a memorable post. This is my 1000th post on the resurrected TWeb, and it seemed fitting to celebrate that resurrection with a resurrection of my own.
As ever, Jesse
Cutting the abortion rate in half is worthwhile even if abortion cannot be eliminated.
This is a "half-way" point that can bring both pro-choice and pro-life people together, and that is the intent. Many of us have strong opinions on this issue. I'm interested in a discussion based on more than opinion here. I'm looking at the goal of cutting the abortion rate in half, by the numbers. What is feasible: socially, politically, and with respect to religious sensitivities. What is the low-hanging fruit, and how much impact could it have.
The most determinative factor in the abortion rate is the use of birth control. As I recall from Guttmacher statistics — and I'd be interested to know if a more reliable source has become active — most unwanted pregnancies occur among those who are not using birth control, about half the population which is sexually active. Reducing the size of this population would clearly reduce the abortion rate.
But there are still substantial unwanted pregnancies from the other half of the sexually active population, those who are using birth control. This has been linked to imperfect use, preventing birth control methods from achieving their theoretical effectiveness. This can now be examined in depth, and with an added feature, looking at the effectiveness over time as the yearly failure rates compound.
The following interactive feature accompanies the opinion piece, Beyond Marriage:
Other than copper and levonorgestrel IUDs, none of these birth control methods is especially effective in practice. For example, over five years the pill is 98 percent effective theoretically, but in practice, that number is 62 percent. Over 10 years those figures are 97 and 39, respectively. Using the pill correctly could halve the abortion rate in this population — assuming that the abortion rate is proportional to the number of unwanted pregnancies and the number of unwanted pregnancies is proportional to the pregnancy rate. Again, however, the clear advantage goes to increasing the size of the population using the more effective methods.
Both of the above interventions would create a measurable reduction in the abortion rate, and could be addressed by more comprehensive sex education and improved access to family planning services.
What else?
Back in the early days of bulletin boards, it was common to mark posting milestones with a memorable post. This is my 1000th post on the resurrected TWeb, and it seemed fitting to celebrate that resurrection with a resurrection of my own.
As ever, Jesse
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