Abortions go up when criminalized

[Littlejoe]

***Please remember, this is a non-debate area!****

I'm looking for good arguments against this common point that keeps getting raised in FB discussions and such. Recently a woman said the above and posted this article below to "prove" her point.

Countries with the most restrictive abortion laws also have the highest rates of abortion, the study by the Guttmacher Institute found. Easier access to birth control drives down abortion rates, the report also finds.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...6xUlf_hVan6DLU

A careful read of the article doesn't really make her point exactly, and has some iffy wording to me. Anyone else come across this and how do you respond?

thanks!

[lee_merrill]

So, if murder rates go up when murder is criminalized, you should not outlaw murder? Laws should draw lines between right and wrong, they should not be used to impel people toward righteousness. That is not the purpose of the law.

Blessings,
Lee

[Littlejoe]

That's a good point lee_merrill! That isn't the purpose of the Law....

[KingsGambit]

Then the solution isn't to give up on criminalizing abortion, but rather to see what went wrong in those countries and react accordingly, no?

[rogue06]

While increasing the availability of birth control has been shown to decrease the demand for abortions (if you can reduce unintended pregnancies you cut back on the demand for abortions), it seems that they simply tacked on legalizing abortions on to this and then attributed the drop in abortions caused by making birth control more widely available to legalizing abortions as well.

And speaking of unintended pregnancies and abortion ... there was a pretty large scale study conducted recently with the results published in the British medical journal The Lancet that disclosed that only 48% of unintended pregnancies get aborted in countries where abortion is illegal in contrast to 69% in countries where it is legal. This indicates that many women carry unwanted pregnancies to term in places where abortion is illegal which sharply contradicts any contention that legalizing abortion causes the number of abortions to drop

And even if it is legal, a study in the late '90s estimated that if public funding of abortion were to be cut roughly 25% of low-income women who otherwise would have aborted their child if the taxpayers footed the bill would instead give birth to the child. This again suggests tighter restrictions do not lead to an increase in abortions.

Further, after Texas passed legislation in 2013 restricting abortion, which forced the closure of 19 of the 41 clinics in the state, the abortion rate dropped by 13% the following year.

Also, I recall a study from about 20 years ago that found that legalizing abortion in Spain had no affect on the rate of abortions. The only change was that Spanish women didn't have to go to neighboring country to get it done.


Hope this helps.

[Littlejoe]

While increasing the availability of birth control has been shown to decrease the demand for abortions (if you can reduce unintended pregnancies you cut back on the demand for abortions), it seems that they simply tacked on legalizing abortions on to this and then attributed the drop in abortions caused by making birth control more widely available to legalizing abortions as well.

And speaking of unintended pregnancies and abortion ... there was a pretty large scale study conducted recently with the results published in the British medical journal The Lancet that disclosed that only 48% of unintended pregnancies get aborted in countries where abortion is illegal in contrast to 69% in countries where it is legal. This indicates that many women carry unwanted pregnancies to term in places where abortion is illegal which sharply contradicts any contention that legalizing abortion causes the number of abortions to drop

And even if it is legal, a study in the late '90s estimated that if public funding of abortion were to be cut roughly 25% of low-income women who otherwise would have aborted their child if the taxpayers footed the bill would instead give birth to the child. This again suggests tighter restrictions do not lead to an increase in abortions.

Further, after Texas passed legislation in 2013 restricting abortion, which forced the closure of 19 of the 41 clinics in the state, the abortion rate dropped by 13% the following year.

Also, I recall a study from about 20 years ago that found that legalizing abortion in Spain had no affect on the rate of abortions. The only change was that Spanish women didn't have to go to neighboring country to get it done.


Hope this helps.

Yes! Thanks Rogue!

[Frogwarrior]

I.... don't remember any details, but I DO recommend you investigate which COUNTRIES and LOCATIONS any data like this is coming from...
A cousin of mine tried to bang on about this a while ago, and we dug up that his data came from foreign countries that ALSO cracked down on contraceptives. It wasn't restricting abortion that made the abortion rates go up. It was the restricting of contraceptives.
AND, then, the increase in the abortion rate was TEMPORARY... it soon started going back down.

I don't remember anything more specific... but I hope that helps you do your own research.

[Ana Dragule]

I.... don't remember any details, but I DO recommend you investigate which COUNTRIES and LOCATIONS any data like this is coming from...
A cousin of mine tried to bang on about this a while ago, and we dug up that his data came from foreign countries that ALSO cracked down on contraceptives. It wasn't restricting abortion that made the abortion rates go up. It was the restricting of contraceptives.
AND, then, the increase in the abortion rate was TEMPORARY... it soon started going back down.

I don't remember anything more specific... but I hope that helps you do your own research.

If those contraceptives are the birth control pill, isn't what they did a bit moot?