The abortion crisis is fragmenting our Church and our nation. However, simply making abortion illegal will not solve this act of violence. Abortion is a worldwide, historical crisis involving social and economic issues. A plethoria of surveys and media headlines seem to confuse this complex problem but some interesting surveys can help clarify the issues facing the Pro-Life movement. Catholics can be better equipped to come up with real-life solutions for pregnant women if they review and understand the collected data surrounding abortion.
Christians and more specifically the Catholic Church should research reasons for abortion. Improving education or prayers in schools are fine ideas, unfortunately, they alone will not solve the motives for choosing to have an abortion. In my opinion, solutions to solve the abortion crisis involve ideas based on national economic and social reforms, because churches and other institutions cannot resolve this alone.
What are your ideas? Can we together, develop ideas to combat this scourge?
Is Anyone Asking Why?
Research is limited on the specific question of why women choose to terminate. Many institutions neither asked nor researched this question. I contacted Gallup and could not find any research. I also reached out to the USCCB, The Archdiocese of New York, and searched data on the internet where some information was located.
Legality and the Numbers
Many Catholics believe if the States simply pass laws making abortions either illegal or restrict access, the rate of terminations will decrease. However, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an American reproductive health non-profit:
the abortion rate is 37 per 1,000 people in countries that prohibit abortion altogether or allow it only in instances to save a woman’s life, and 34 per 1,000 people in countries that broadly allow for abortion, a difference that is not statistically significant (Amnesty International).
Terminology and Educati
One of the problems is an institutional failure to communicate the importance of and the mystery of a life, of a soul. There are interesting insights from the McGrath Institute for Church Life, “How Americans Understand Abortion” :
Research found mutually exclusive labels like “pro-choice” and “pro-life” paint an incomplete, potentially misleading, picture. When you really ask people what form their beliefs on abortion, they point to personal experience and relationships, not political policies, rhetoric.
Most Americans a.) do not actually discuss abortion. b.) do not fit within binary position labels, c.) have significant knowledge gaps on the topic d.) do not regard abortion as a societal good.
Many admit lacking basic knowledge about gestational development, moral framework, their state law and the costs (financial, physical, mental) of abortion.
The Divisions
By recognizing the divisions within our society, we might discover what is separating us, leading toward a possible way of unifying our views.
- A study revealed the complexity of Americans’ views on abortion and openness to discussion. Among the report’s key findings was unanimous agreement that abortion isn’t a “desirable good.” (M. Hadro/CNA/EWTN/NEWS/Nation ).
- A Gallup poll reveals, for first time in two decades, more Americans believe abortion “morally acceptable” than “morally wrong” (C. Rousselle/CNANation).
A poll reveals, those 47% stating abortion is acceptable, is 2% points higher than recorded in two decades (Megan Brenan):
47%: abortion is morally acceptable; 46%, morally wrong.
Americans split between “pro-choice” (49%) and “pro-life” (47%)
48% want legalization with limits, 32% completely legal, 19% illegal
Collecting Accurate Information
There’s an incomplete approach to data collection. Information is maintained by the states, with some choosing not to collect data. Figures for 2018, were not expected until mid-2021. New Abortion Trends in the United States: A First Look (Tessa Longbons).
Abortion Data
Approximately 18% of pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion, (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). We must ask why and create solutions preventing termination. So what does the data reflect of whom receives abortions and their reasons? For 2018, 619,591 abortions were reported from 49 reporting areas (CDC Abortion Surveillance-U.S.). Numbers and statistics can be very confusing, however, if we do not try to understand them, we cannot resolve the problem and hence the reasons of those obtaining an abortion.
The Research, Reasons for termination are multiple, bringing the tally above 100%, from 2008-2010:
40% Not financially prepared.
36% Not ready, unplanned.
31% Poor partner relationships,
29% Must focus on other children.
20% Pregnancy interferes with educational and vocational plans while 19% of reasons stated they were not emotionally or mentally prepared.
12% Health-related issues and for reasons desiring a better life for the baby than could be provided.
Other reasons were: mothers considered themselves not independent nor mature enough; were influenced by family/friends; or they didn’t want a baby nor place the child for adaption.
Other Issues and Explanations:
Over half of those having abortions were already mothers and they already faced economic hardships: 51% of them lived below federal poverty level; three-fourths had insufficient funds for housing, transportation, food.
Note, for unplanned pregnancies, 42% of children are aborted (Ireland, MD.).
For those reporting themselves as Catholics, 67% believed: Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. (www.pewresearch.org).
- The age factor, about 25% of U.S. women under 45 undergo abortion, while in 2018, women in their 20’s accounted for 57.7% of abortions (Guttmacher Institute).
- While rates, for all women, were decreasing from 2009-2018, from 2017-2018, the total number of abortions and abortion rate increased 1% (CDC Abortion Surveillance-U.S.).
International findings from 14 countries, U.S. included: little variation exists by sociodemographic characteristics. Abortions occur for a variety of reasons ( Elsevier Inc. Guttmacher Institute):
Failure of social support for assistance.
Fear of poverty.
Women denied abortions had a.) higher odds of poverty 6 months after birth, than women receiving abortions, b.) were less likely to be employed full-time, c.) more likely to receive public assistance, and d) more likely to be in poverty 4 years later (Socioeconomic Outcomes of Women Who Receive and Women Who Are Denied Wanted Abortions in the United States).
Do you have ideas for moving forward, possible solutions, or resolutions to the problems facing pregnant women? Information can enlighten, reduce fears, and save lives.
11 thoughts on “Resolving Abortion Together: An Invitation for Answers”
MY SPECIFIC COMMENT IS WE, AS HUMANS, HAVE THE CHOICE TO BE PREGNANT OR NOT. THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF CONTRACEPTVES AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE. THERE IS NO REASON TO ABORT A HUMAN LIFE UNLESS THERE IS A VERY SPECIFIC MEDICAL REASON. A LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION. WHY SHOULD ANYONE END A HUMAN LIFE THAT HAS A RIGHT TO LIVE. WE HAVE BECOME MURDERERS OF INNOCENT LIVES BECAUSE OF OUR OWN SELFISH IDEAS. IF YOU ARE CRYING POVERTY THEN DON’T GET PREGNANT!!!
Very, Very late reply. Things just get in the way. I am aware of the 3,000 pregnancy centers. Averages only 60 per state. They are great. There are not enough. For how long do they help families after the child is born? Can they assist in issues I described in the article – have they promoted greater family care, job training, education, insurance? I wish the closing by exorcism took less than 3 years. I was one of those outside a local PP. We must reach out to women before they even think of PP or abortion. We have to change the cultural mindset, drive out the fear for reasons given in the incomplete survey. Do more comprehensive research on reasons. Increase education on the biology, on the sacredness of life, on the soul. Drive out the fear of the unknown struggles that come with parenthood. We need solutions, and only you and other came up with responses! That is an issue as well.
Thank you. Please show other solutions. I asked for ideas from our readership. As you see from the other comments – none. No Catholic organization, nor any other Christian institution has done available research to ask why one seeks to kill their child. That’s one of the problems I stated in my article. Religious cannot afford to to help these mothers financially, physically, nor emotionally. What solutions are applicable to available data? Do we not as a whole have a responsibility to somehow assist?
This article raises an important topic in the abortion debate. The reasons behind women choosing to get an abortion are woefully under-discussed. I think it’s pretty clear that making abortion illegal may reduce the abortion rate, but it won’t come close to eliminating it. Likewise, it is impossible to remove every reason that someone might choose abortion. This is why I believe it is important to take a two-pronged approach and work to restrict abortion through legality as well as work to eliminate the reasons for women choosing abortion. The pro-life movement in this country seems to focus on one prong while ignoring the other.
In Germany, abortions are technically illegal, but there is no punishment if certain steps are taken (counseling, etc). Germany also supports parenthood in ways the US does not – i.e. healthcare for children, guaranteed parental paid time off, etc. I think both of these have to be a part of the reason Germany’s abortion rate is a third of that in the US.
And to Edward Benet’s comment, it is notoriously difficult to measure the abortion rate in counties where abortion is illegal. And this applies to Ireland as well. When something is illegal, it tends to happen in the shadows making it effectively impossible to gather reasonably accurate statistics. I’m confident that legality caused an increase, but I don’t think it was probably nearly as large was what can be proven/measured.
This was a really important article, and I wish we saw more on this topic. There are organizations asking why abortion is chosen, but they tend to be from the pro-choice side rather than the pro-life side. And this really doesn’t make any sense to me. Both sides should care. The pro-choice side uses the reasons behind abortion to argue for why abortion is necessary. The pro-life side tends to ignore those reasons, but they should be working to address the reasons and remove them from the discussion.
Thank you! Your first paragraph is great and essential to the debate and saving lives. If there was a way to reach out to these opposing organizations, I would like to try. I am thinking about sending this article to (at least) certain Catholic organizations. if you have any suggestions let me know. As you can see from the lack of (proper) responses from our readership, we/society has a long way to progress and grow.
Any ideas for more on this topic are welcomed, let me know. I would like to expand the issue toward growth and creating open-mindedness.
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Hi Glenn,
thank you for your article. In the section entitled “Legality and the Numbers” you cite the Guttmacher Institute’s opinion that making abortion illegal doesn’t bring down the rate of terminations. This opinion is not supported by the facts. If we take the case of Ireland, before 2018, abortion was illegal and some Irish women travelled to Britain for abortion. The British health system keeps very detailed statistics, so that we know the exact number of abortions by Irish women each year before it was legalised in Ireland. After abortion was legalised and the first abortions were done in Ireland in 2019, the number of abortions almost TREBLED to 6666 abortions, a number of Biblical proportions in more ways than one. Over 98 percent of these abortions were done on children who had no known foetal abnormalities, despite the Irish government’s insistence that abortion was being legalised primarily so that mothers whose babies had “life-limiting” conditions would not have to travel to Britain for abortion.
During the campaign against abortion, the Irish pro-life campaign discussed many historical instances where abortion numbers greatly increased after abortion was legalised. It is no harm to point out that your citation by the Guttmacher Institute is actually coming from Amnesty International, a vehemently pro-abortion group. During the effort to legalise abortion in Ireland, Amnesty continually manipulated statistics in order to promote abortion on spurious grounds. I would not consider them a reputable source of data for your well-intentioned and interesting article.
It is also informative to consider the countries in northern Europe such as Belgium and Holland who have introduced euthanasia, and subsequently liberalised access to euthanasia. With each liberalisation, the number of killings increases. There can be little doubt that legality increases access to a “service” and more liberal access leads to more deaths.
Amnesty’s claim that abortion numbers will be the same regardless of whether it is legal or not will not stand up to much scrutiny. What Amnesty does is to estimate the number of clandestine abortions in a country before legalisation. Because no official clandestine figures are possible, this estimate is very subjective, with pro-abortion groups tending to make extravagant claims. For example, before abortion was legalised in Italy in 1978, some pro abortion groups were claiming that 500,000 clandestine abortions were taking place annually, whilst other less political commentators estimated the number to be under 20,000.
If we do a comparison of one of these wild claims with the numbers of abortions once the procedure is legalised, then it will seem that the number has not increased at all, or even decreased! Evidently, this is not science, but the manipulation of figures in service of a political agenda. The Irish case is much more informative because the British health system gives an extremely accurate number of abortions carried out on Irish women before it was legalised in Ireland. Clandestine abortions in Ireland would have been virtually zero given the availability of the procedure in the UK
Thank you for your well written thoughtful reply and the information. When will humanity ever mature?
Your reply points out my main point along with the reasons behind this procedure. Because of what you confirm, even the reasons presented may be off. Why is there such a lack of data, especially from religious sources, from anywhere besides the partisan institutions ? So where do we go from here? Who and how can gather proper data to help the unborn and mothers? Who will listen to requests from our voices to collect this information? Or is there a lack of interest?
The lack of responses shows it will not begin here. I wish it would, or somewhere. The sooner we begin, the better future of the unborn, families and society. We cannot solve this issue exploring the reasons why.
Thanks Glenn
The answer is so simple – if you perfect the perfect indicator of fertility ( in this day and age I wonder why they haven’t ) then theoretically there would be no more surprise pregnancies, no excuse under the sun why any abortion would be necessary unless in the case of rape or incest which you neglected to comment on. Oh, yes, there would be frequent premarital sex, here for eternity, but since that facilitates in the mind of the rigid orthodox an unintended consequence on par with abortion I guess no solution is possible other than chasing down people one by one in the hope of successful intervention.
Didn’t want to comment on rape or incest. I just wanted to focus on 1) data available or lack of , which in itself is part of my story and @2) the reasons cited by women. Thereby starting a conversation on why and reasons to prevent why. I will, gladly admit the presented data is very incomplete numbers – SOMEONE should do detailed research.
I never thought about perfecting fertility timing for unwanted pregnancies. Thanks. Human lust might overcome that and the cost/availability is another factor.