There are available online resources from both camps of the abortion debate on the consequences and the impact of abortions. It is important to know what such consequences are and analyze their role in the legalization and the morality of abortions.
Positive consequences of legalizing abortions
1. Legalizing Abortion Reduces Unsafe Abortions
Some argue that the legalization of abortion is required to reduce unsafe abortions. For example, statistics indicate that post the legalization of abortions, there have been a reduction in death, hospitalizations, and other physical health complications related to unsafe abortions. Moreover, in Uganda where abortions remain illegal unless it is required to save the mother’s life, data suggests that “half of all Ugandan women will require treatment for complications related to abortion at some point in their lives.”[i] In other words, abortion is legally justifiable because it saves health care money and women’s lives. However, this argument fails if the evidence supports the humanity of the unborn child. In this case, it is like arguing that murder should be legalized to eliminate death and health care burden resulting during police attempts to defend the lives of the victims. In other words, one must establish what it is that we are “safely aborting” before we look into the consequences of legalizing it.
2. Unwanted Pregnancies Are Correlated with Higher Incidences of Lower Cognition and Higher Dependence among these Kids
According to the APA, “Unwanted pregnancy has been associated with deficits to the subsequent child's cognitive, emotional and social processes. These children are more likely to experience negative long-term outcomes in adulthood, such as an increased likelihood of engaging in criminal behaviour, dependency on public assistance, and having an unstable marriage.”[ii] Moreover, there is a higher incidence of interpersonal violence among children from unwanted pregnancies.[iii] However, it is important to note that abuse and trauma have the same results and so these risks are not unique to cases of unwanted pregnancy. The data here suggests that unwanted pregnancies result in unwanted children. Being unwanted increases likelihood of rejection and neglect. However, to justify the murder of an unborn child is, therefore, akin to justifying the murder of all children who end up in abusive or previously identified as high-risk relationships so that they are not suffering the long-term consequences of the abuses of their caregivers. We end up punishing the victim instead of the abusive caregiver.
3. Legalizing Abortion Contributes to Social Equality among Women of Different socioeconomic statuses.
According to the APA, “access to safe and legal abortion is central to attaining social equality for women. Laws restricting access to safe, legal abortion will be particularly harmful to low-income women, women of colour, and sexual and gender minorities, as well as those who live in rural or medically underserved areas.”[iv] In other words, we need to legalize abortions to ensure equal access to proper medical care regardless of social class. However, this is like saying that we need to fund murderers because rich ones can hire professional snipers and thus are not likely to be injured. In contrast, low-income murders are more likely to be hurt because they cannot afford a professional sniper. Social equality to healthcare can be argued to be a good value; however, it cannot override morality of higher value such as the preservation of innocent human life. Moreover, APA does not point out the fact that women of minority and low-income status are more likely to seek abortions in general compared to other women. In other words, what drives these women to abortions is likely their lower socio-economic status.[v] Therefore, better use of social equality argument is to argue for more socio-economic and emotional support for these pregnant women, not for the “safe termination” of their unborn children. Stated differently, women of higher socioeconomic status are misusing their privileges when employing them to kill the unborn child in a way that is less likely to harm them. Finally, the number of women of lower socioeconomic status who seek abortion has increased despite the reduction in the overall rates of abortion in the US.[vi] Such data adds more weight to the argument that better use of abortion money is to address the leading factor of abortion (i.e., poverty).
4. The Argument of Emotional Health
APA claims that “women who are denied an abortion are more likely to initially experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with women who received an abortion.”[vii] In other words, abortion can serve, in some cases, as a psychological treatment for anxiety and better self-esteem. But, this is a misleading paraphrase of the issue and quite a disproportionate response. For we know that there are more effective psychiatric and psychological treatments to anxiety and self-esteem than killing an unborn child. Using abortion as a psychological treatment is like bombing a room with a child to kill a fly in it. Finally, according to different studies, women who have prior mental health issues are more likely to suffer from mental health issues getting abortions. Therefore, “the very women for whom legal abortion is considered justified on psychiatric grounds are the ones who have the highest risk of post-abortion psychiatric disorders.”[viii]
Conclusion
Pragmatic rationalizations for the legalization of abortion fail. Neither do they serve those who pro-choice advocates claim to protect nor do they provide moral justification to the murder of the unborn child. But is the unborn child a member of the human family? Next, I will investigate arguments from science on this matter.
Endnotes
[i] Susan A. Cohen, “Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of Abortion Worldwide,” The Guttmacher Policy Review, 12, no. 24, (2009), https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2009/11/facts-and-consequences-legality-incidence-and-safety-abortion-worldwide#
[ii] “Abortion and Mental Health”, APA, accessed October 18, 2020, https://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/abortion
[iii] Ibid
[iv] Ibid
[v] According to the Guttmacher Institute, 25% of those who seek abortions in the US are Hispanic and 28% are Black. See, https://www.guttmacher.org/infographic/2016/us-abortion-patients.The Hispanic and the black population contribute 18.5 % and 13.4 % respectively. See, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219).
[vi] Also, poverty is the number one reason for women to seek an abortion. For example, "a 2005 study, 73% of women undergoing an abortion said not being able to afford a baby now was a reason for the abortion. That number rose to 81% for women below the federal poverty line. And while the abortion rate for American women declined by 8% between 2000 and 2008, among poor American women, it increased by 18%.2”. See, https://www.usccb.org/committees/pro-life-activities/poverty-and-abortion-vicious-cycle
[vii] Abortion and Mental Health”, APA, accessed October 18, 2020, https://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/abortion
[viii] https://thelifeinstitute.net/learning-centre/abortion-effects/mental-health