Preventing unintended pregnancies… more important than ever
Family planning conversations are stirring in the blogosphere and MSM this week. Today, the story was the release of a new Guttmacher Institute study, which found that publicly-funded family planning (note: not publicly funded abortion, thanks to the Hyde Amendment) prevents nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year . This means that without publicly funded family planning, the U.S. abortion rate would be nearly two-thirds higher, and nearly twice as high among poor women. Guttmacher argues this is “good government,” because we’re saving money in the long-term. (Pelosi took some heat for making similar arguments about including family planning in the stimulus, so I’m trying to tread lightly here!)
Anyway, I think the cost is secondary to the moral and public health argument. In my mind, in the perfect world, we would have ZERO unintended pregnancies, alleviating the cause of many heart-wrenching decisions for women and families. If the government can help get us closer to that ideal, I think it’s acting as it should. (Which is also an argument for Title X expansions.)
A blogger at RH Reality Check also notes that the study revealed that the use of contraceptives is becoming less common in this country for black, Hispanic and low-income women and goes on to point out that though the overall national rate of unintended pregnancy has held steady in recent years, falling rates among affluent women masked an increase among poor and low-income women. As the recession deepens, it’s even more important to ensure that poor women and minorities have affordable and accessible family planning services.
Some conservatives will never get behind such policies, but they’re out of step not only with the pro-choice community and the staggering percentage of women who have used contraception, but also pro-life leaders who are stepping up to support common ground. We can all acknowledge that abortion is a morally complex issue, and while we can continue to dispute its morality and legality, can’t we agree that everybody wins if we prevent as many unintended pregnancies as possible?
This may be too nitpicky of a comment but I can’t let it go: A perfect world with “ZERO unintended pregnancies” would mean that Jesus would not have been born. Let’s not forget that unintended pregnancies can be huge blessings in disguise.
I do agree, however, that for many people they can be very stressful situations and helping women to prevent unwanted pregnancies is good for the country as a whole.
Lindsey, fair point! I think one reason why we take the comprehensive approach to common ground on abortion– both preventing unintended pregnancies AND supporting women who choose to carry the pregnancy to term, whether or not it was intended. For those for whom this is a blessing in disguise, they shouldn’t have to worry that their child won’t have adequate health care or a healthy lunch at school.