Women’s Access to Birth Control and Abortions

The conversation surrounding abortion has been ongoing for decades. Despite abortion becoming legal nationally in the 1990s, there’s been a lot of talk of banning or restricting access to this procedure again. Between 2010 and 2014, over 230 new restrictions were put in place. However, this is a dangerous and simply ineffective take on how to decrease abortion rates. While abortion rates remain relatively unchanged, it bears serious consequences on women’s mental and physical health. The best way to decrease abortion rates is not to criminalize the abortions, but to increase access to preventative birth control.

In some countries where abortion is illegal, abortions remain the leading cause of maternal death. This is because when abortion is illegal, it is more likely that those who do choose to have an abortion will be forced to use unsafe methods, unsterile conditions, and unprofessional providers.
Worldwide, approximately 5 million women are hospitalized due to botched abortions annually, and 47,000 women die due to abortion-related injuries.

Some may argue that although legal abortions are safer for women physically, they cause psychological issues later. In reality, women show more emotional and mental stress after being denied an abortion. They may even exhibit symptoms of depression, including anxiety and low self esteem.

 

The most effective way to reduce abortions is to make preventative birth control methods more accessible. In America, 43% of unwanted pregnancies in America ended with abortion. A 2012 St. Louis study focused on minimizing the number of unwanted pregnancies from the start. Researchers provided 9,256 women with several different birth control options. After being educated on each type of birth control method offered, each woman selected her preferred method. Over the course of this study, the abortion rate for the group had dropped to 13.4-17 abortions per thousand women. This was 62-78% lower than the national average of 19.6 per every thousand.

By keeping legal, accessible abortions but educating women on how to prevent an unwanted pregnancy in the first place, we can reduce the overall number of abortions while still ensuring that the women who choose to have one remain safe, mentally and physically. It’s the most, if not the only, effective way.