Abortions are rarely for ‘accidental’ pregnancies
Tiana Lowe
Although the case for life is an objective one, the pragmatic argument against abortion has been heavily bolstered by the confluence of scientific advancements and federal policy. As birth control has become more effective and the Affordable Care Act mandates that employer-sponsored insurance fully funds contraception, women — especially working women — have never needed abortion less.
That birth control actually does work is confirmed by the dismal statistics of women who elect to undergo abortions. In a study of women from 2014 — that is, years after the ACA’s contraception mandate went into effect — just 13% of abortion patients used oral contraceptives, which have a success rate of more than 99%. Another 2.6% used long-acting reversible contraception, the patch, or the ring, which all have similarly soaring success rates at preventing pregnancy.
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More than a quarter of study respondents used condoms, which are 98% successful, and 7.4% used withdrawal, a “birth control” method so ineffective it cannot even accurately be described as such. (About 1 in 5 couples who rely on pulling out will conceive within a year).
The rest of the respondents, nearly half, used zero form of birth control. They had unprotected sex and then used abortion to terminate the logical consequence of having sex without so much as a Durex.
I’ve written here extensively about the need for the FDA to make oral contraceptives over-the-counter, especially for the 8 million women who remain uninsured. But those who have access to birth control with a 0.3% failure rate at zero cost who choose not to use that protection are not having “accidents.” They are having fully expected pregnancies.
While Republicans won’t find much luck trying to ban abortions entirely, especially as medication abortions become the norm for early-term pregnancies, the median American and majority of the country favors limiting abortions to the first trimester. As contraception access and efficacy continue to improve, “unintended” pregnancies will increasingly be perceived not as accidents where abortions are justified but much deserved consequences.
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