Want to Reduce Abortions? Support Mothers

The abortion debate frequently includes questions about when it should or should not be allowed—what if the mother’s life is at stake? What if the pregnancy was the result of a rape? What if it’s a selective reduction?—but “these dorm-room hypotheticals do not have very much to do with the realities of abortion in the US and elsewhere,” writes David Frum on CNN. “Abortion is a product of poverty and maternal distress,” and the most important thing we can do to decrease its frequency is support mothers.

Societies that do just that, in general, have the fewest abortions. For example, Germany gives 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, a child allowance payment that can last as long as 25 years, and more. And, you guessed it, Germany’s abortion rate is one-third that in the US, though German abortion laws are not particularly limiting. That’s why, rather than talking about what type of abortion to ban, we need to be asking how the government can “support more happy and healthy childbearing, … reduce unwanted pregnancies, and … alleviate the economic anxieties of mothers-to-be.” Click for Frum’s full piece. (More abortion stories.)