I don’t like hypocrisy. I recently watched an SUV with a “Choose Life” car tag race around a school bus that was stopped with lights flashing. That’s definitely hypocrisy.
Last month the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law banning abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, upholding the decision of lower court Judge Carlton Reeves. The Mississippi Legislature has passed among the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. It also strikes me as hypocritical to take away women’s right to an abortion while not advancing programs that reduce poverty, increase access to education and health care for women and children, and provide real opportunities and meaningful supports that enable the working poor to improve their standard of living.
It is beyond ironic that one of the highest priorities in our state has been to limit abortions under all circumstances at the same time we have the highest infant mortality rate in the nation. Premature birth, and resulting complications, is the largest contributor to infant deaths in the U.S., and Mississippi has the highest rate of preterm births according to the March of Dimes Premature Report Card 2018. We have held that dubious distinction for the past five years. Still, our leaders continually cut programs aimed at improving the health of at-risk mothers and young children and fail to fund or massively underfund supports that get infants off to a good start in life.
Where does the passion of “pro-life” advocates go once children are born?
Hold your flaming arrows and pitchforks and hear me out. First, please know I am not in favor of abortion. I wish abortions did not happen. But abortion is a symptom of bigger problems—bigger problems that can be fixed.
Let’s look at some of the myths that are used to support restricting abortion.
Myth 1: Banning abortions saves lives.
To be clear, banning abortion does NOT stop abortions from happening. Abortion has been illegal in El Salvador since 1998, yet their abortion rate is higher than that of the U.S. In countries that made abortion illegal, infant and maternal mortality skyrocketed. Women who want abortions will get them but they will be more likely to die and have ongoing health problems as a result.
Myth 2: Women who seek abortions are just irresponsible.
The factors that lead women to terminate a pregnancy are complex, but most find themselves in an impossible situation with no good options. The last large-scale investigation was conducted in 2005; that alone indicates we are more interested in this issue as a political and ideological matter rather than a scientific topic worthy of study and research.
Nevertheless, there are no indications women’s motivations have changed since 2005. The decisions are often complicated, but the study found the most common reasons given for seeking an abortion are financial concerns (73%) and over one-third (38%) of the women reporting stated they were students or planning to be in school. (Less than half of high school students who become pregnant graduate from high school and college students are much less likely to finish college.) Another 38% of women surveyed already had children and did not want more children or felt they were too old to have another child. One-fourth of respondents sought an abortion because they were embarrassed and did not want anyone to know they were pregnant.
Myth 3: Abortion encourages promiscuity.
According to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the U.S. has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates among industrialized nations at 57 per 1000 women ages 15-19. It is clear that teaching “abstinence only,” guilting, and relying on parents to have mature discussions with their children have not worked to reduce teen pregnancy. Teaching children and youth about their bodies, sexuality, and contraception does not, in fact, encourage promiscuity. For example, in Germany where age appropriate sex education is mandatory in all public schools starting in kindergarten (and parents cannot “opt out”), the teen pregnancy rate is 9 per 1000. So, our teen pregnancy rate is more than 6 times that of Germany!
Myth 4: Abortion is against the teachings of the Bible.
Many evangelical Christians are opposed to abortion citing religious beliefs. The truth is, the Bible is silent on abortion even though it is well established that abortions were taking place at that time.
Abortions documented by the Egyptians go back to 1550 BC and there are multiple references to selective terminations of pregnancy among the Greeks and Romans during Old and New Testament times. Yet Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Apostle Paul never mentioned the practice. If it were so offensive to early religious leaders, I must believe they would’ve called it out.
However, there are over 2000 references in the Bible to taking care of the poor and standing up for those in need of help. You want to try to stop abortions. Fine. Consider spending the amount of energy, time, and money proportionate to the amount of emphasis abortion receives in the Bible in contrast to the emphasis given on helping people get out of poverty. If we all did that we’d be a lot more concerned with income and housing inequality, health care, education, and generally taking care of our fellow humans and a lot less concerned with abortion laws.
Social issues like abortion and gay rights have been used by political parties to highjack evangelical churches for political gain. “Hot button” topics are used to divide and bring out the worst in us, evidenced by the vitriolic language and mean-spiritedness we see throughout America these days.
If we really want to stop abortions, let’s interrupt the factors that lead women to get abortions—poverty, lack of education, access to affordable health care, and supporting rather than shaming women.
by Dr. Melody Musgrove