timosman
05-14-2019, 08:12 PM
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/06/30/coming-out-on-abortion/openness-would-reveal-the-shocking-number-of-abortions
JUNE 30, 2013
The idea that the debate over legal abortion would be fundamentally changed if more women told their stories about undergoing the procedure is superficially logical. Given the frequency of abortion in the United States and estimates that more than a quarter of all U.S. women will have had at least one abortion, it makes sense to believe that personal stories will persuade Americans to empathize with the situations of women they know as wives, sisters, girlfriends and daughters.
While compassionate understanding of individual circumstances is a good thing, there is solid reason to believe that more revelations like these will have next to no effect on public views about abortion. Advocates of abortion rights often state that they believe the procedure should be “safe, legal and rare.” They invest hundreds of millions of tax dollars in services and policies designed to prevent unexpected pregnancies, with new initiatives making the latest preventives available over-the-counter to everyone and covered by insurance. Despite these efforts, the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute show the number of annual abortions holding steady at a level that is anything but rare – 1.2 million per year in the United States.
Moreover, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 44 percent of these were repeat abortions, and 1 in 5 represent a third or even higher order abortion. If anything, these statistics underreport the phenomenon of repeat abortion. Statistics like these – abortion is common, not rare, and a significant number of women are resorting to it on multiple occasions – might find little favor among the public.
Women, of course, also vary in what they say about a past abortion. Many women report no negative effects, but among groups opposed to abortion or offering post-abortion counseling are many women who have undergone the procedure and now deploy their regrets to prevent abortions. Individual views can also change over time. Sherri Shepherd’s statement on "The View" about her delayed reaction is not atypical: “It hit me as an adult, the guilt and the shame, and the humiliation, of having had all of these abortions, and it took a lot of prayer, but it didn’t hit me as a teenager when I was going through it.”
JUNE 30, 2013
The idea that the debate over legal abortion would be fundamentally changed if more women told their stories about undergoing the procedure is superficially logical. Given the frequency of abortion in the United States and estimates that more than a quarter of all U.S. women will have had at least one abortion, it makes sense to believe that personal stories will persuade Americans to empathize with the situations of women they know as wives, sisters, girlfriends and daughters.
While compassionate understanding of individual circumstances is a good thing, there is solid reason to believe that more revelations like these will have next to no effect on public views about abortion. Advocates of abortion rights often state that they believe the procedure should be “safe, legal and rare.” They invest hundreds of millions of tax dollars in services and policies designed to prevent unexpected pregnancies, with new initiatives making the latest preventives available over-the-counter to everyone and covered by insurance. Despite these efforts, the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute show the number of annual abortions holding steady at a level that is anything but rare – 1.2 million per year in the United States.
Moreover, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 44 percent of these were repeat abortions, and 1 in 5 represent a third or even higher order abortion. If anything, these statistics underreport the phenomenon of repeat abortion. Statistics like these – abortion is common, not rare, and a significant number of women are resorting to it on multiple occasions – might find little favor among the public.
Women, of course, also vary in what they say about a past abortion. Many women report no negative effects, but among groups opposed to abortion or offering post-abortion counseling are many women who have undergone the procedure and now deploy their regrets to prevent abortions. Individual views can also change over time. Sherri Shepherd’s statement on "The View" about her delayed reaction is not atypical: “It hit me as an adult, the guilt and the shame, and the humiliation, of having had all of these abortions, and it took a lot of prayer, but it didn’t hit me as a teenager when I was going through it.”