Ending Abortion

Breitbart has a post up on abortion. They are against it. Well I am too. But I worry about things like vagina police (with sovereign immunity) or God forbid the militarization of enforcement.

But I have an idea. If we paid women $100,000 a year (inflation adjusted) from conception until age 21 we could nearly end abortion. I don't know why the idea is not popular. I mean really, what would it be worth to end such a practice? We could just tax the rich to pay for the effort.

So who is having an abortion?

During that period, the proportion of abortions obtained by women younger than 20 dropped steadily, falling from 33 percent in 1974 to 17 percent in 2004. For those younger than 18, it fell from 15 percent of all abortions in 1974 to 6 percent in 2004. At the same time, the proportion of abortions obtained by women in their 20s increased from 50 percent to 57 percent, and the share done for women age 30 and older rose from 18 percent to 27 percent.

Although abortion rates have declined among all racial and ethnic groups, large disparities persist, with Hispanic and black women having the procedure at rates three to five times the rate of white women.

In 2004, there were 10.5 abortions per 1,000 white women ages 15 to 44, compared with 28 per 1,000 Hispanic women of that age and 50 per 1,000 black women. That translates into approximately 1 percent of white women having an abortion in 2004, compared with 3 percent of Hispanic women and 5 percent of black women. Jones attributed that to the focus on reducing teenage pregnancy and on increasing contraceptive use.

"We've made the most important progress in reducing teen pregnancy and abortion rate, [rather] than reducing unintended pregnancy in older women," Jones said.

The proportion of all abortions performed for white women decreased from 45 percent in 1994 to 34 percent in 2004, while the proportion for Hispanics increased from 16 percent to 22 percent and the proportion for black women rose from 35 percent to 37 percent.

"We know from other research that having lower income makes a woman more likely to get an abortion. Women of color tend to be lower-income, and so in turn when confronted with an unintended pregnancy are more likely to have an abortion," Jones said.

If the poor are having more abortions wouldn't it be a good idea to subsidize them to end the practice?

In Israel there is a group that does just that.

Inside an office about the size of a three-bedroom apartment, the walls are covered with pictures of babies and letters from grateful mothers.

In a warehouse a few blocks away, three workers pack boxes with essentials—diapers, baby wipes, formula, matzo for Passover in the spring—alongside stacks of pint-sized mattresses and rows of strollers.

Meet the unlikely face of Israel’s “pro-choice,” anti-abortion movement: Efrat, a no-frills effort to dissuade Israeli women from having an abortion.

There are no religious arguments or political lobbying at Efrat, where volunteers offer a year’s worth of services and supplies to women who choose—that’s the “pro-choice” part—to carry their children to term.

“Women on the whole, they don’t want to do this abortion,” said Ruth Tidhar, an assistant director at Efrat. “They feel like they have no choice. Our aim is to give the woman a choice.”

For a country obsessed with demographics, abortion in Israel is a surprisingly uncontroversial topic. Unlike in the United States, where it’s a perennial wedge issue, there is a consensus in Israel on making abortion accessible, if rare.

Efrat isn’t trying to change abortion laws. Instead, it hopes women will seek its support rather than have an abortion for economic reasons.

“We’re not against abortions,” Tidhar said. “We’re for women.”

Efrat President Dr. Eli Schussheim said the organization is built around former clients who, having seen that it’s possible to have a child in spite of harsh economic realities, will then counsel other women against abortion.

“This is the unique approach,” he said. “We don’t need to change laws because we don’t believe that laws can educate people.”

In America the anti-abortion crowd is for women too. From informal surveys I have done here from time to time the consensus among the anti-abortion (by force of law) crowd favors what amounts to misdemeanor manslaughter for the "provider" and the woman (who contracted the "hit") goes free. Why? Well evidently women don't have a will of their own and the "providers" are coercing women into doing something that they would rather not do. i.e. like drugs it is all about "pushers" and women and babies are innocent victims of the pushers. I expect an Abortion War will turn out a lot like the Drug War. A corrupt failure at every level.

I (like the Israelis in the story) favor private initiatives. In America we have Rockford Pro Life. Some of my readers are not entirely happy with Rockford Pro Life. There is a simple answer to that. This is America. Take the initiative. Start your own group. Me? I'm nearly full up fighting drug prohibition. I have another 5 or 10 years to go with that. But if you start a group I WILL give you publicity. Or if you know of other anti-abortion groups in America who don't have faith in anti-abortion laws - let me know. I'll give them publicity.

A history of attitudes towards abortion with a focus on the United States:

Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood