Pro-Choice Blog Supports Abortion as a Method of Birth Control
By: Sarah Terzo
Tags: Womens Health, Abortion, Pro Life, Pro Choice, Women

A March 29 “Abortion Gang” blog discusses a pro-choice reaction to women who use abortion “as birth control.” According to the blog:

“Last week, I got into a conversation (as I often do) on access to abortion. The exchange was pleasant and informative, but in the course of the conversation the other party expressed she did not support free choice if “someone is using abortion as birth control.” In my experience (and other abortion ganger’s experiences as well), conversations about abortion often come to this same limit, or some version of ‘abortion is not an acceptable if’ statement. And when the ‘if statements’ start flying I wonder: Why are we so afraid of liberating the use of abortion for whatever means an individual may choose? Why is it that when abortion comes up, some “moral limit” (within the legal limit) must be placed on the procedure? …Abortion, biologically is birth control, in every case, regardless of if contraception was used during sex or not. Furthermore, safe, legal abortion is one of the most effective forms of birth control; in the US, abortion procedures only “fail” or need to be re-administered less than .5% of the time. … However, advocating that using abortion for birth control is totally 100% OK/kosher/great/moral usually terrifies people….if someone wants to use abortion as birth control, let him or her do so.

There is a reason why promoting abortion as birth control “terrifies people.” Most people intuitively know, on some level, that abortion is wrong. Polls over the years consistently show that more people think abortion is “morally wrong” than “morally acceptable.”

A Newsweek poll found that 56% of those polled believed “abortion was wrong.” But 69% answered yes when asked “Whatever your own personal view of abortion, do you favor or oppose a woman in this country having the choice to have an abortion with the advice of her doctor?”

The statistics show that people are genuinely troubled by the abortion issue. They know that abortion is something evil — they just believe that it is a necessary evil.

But when abortion is used as birth control, it makes many nominally pro-choice people uncomfortable — it is one thing to support abortion if a woman is having only one and her situation is dire, but to support repeat abortions, or abortions chosen casually, is another thing entirely.

The belief that abortions for birth control are wrong but abortions for more serious reasons are ok highlights a logical flaw. If abortion is simply the removal of cells, the ending of a pregnancy, a benign procedure that does not kill a child, why should it matter how many abortions a person has? Why should it matter why she has them?

The writer of the blog, who supports using abortion as birth control, is at least being consistent in her pro-choice stand. She is following pro-choice rhetoric to its obvious conclusion — if one abortion is perfectly fine, so are ten abortions.

The blog also makes this statement:

Abortion is a safe reproductive experience, and repeating the procedure multiple times has not shown to have negative impacts on future reproductive abilities.

This is simply untrue. A study published in the medical journal Human Reproduction found that women who have multiple abortions are more likely to give birth prematurely.

They have three times the risk of having a baby before 28 weeks, double the risk of very low birth weight, and greater likelihood of other complications. The probability of complications in future births was highest in women who had three or more abortions, but even having two abortions elevated the risks of premature birth (though by less than having three).

Abortion puts women at risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can cause infertility. Pelvic inflammatory disease also increases the risk of ectopic or tubal pregnancies, which can be fatal to the mother. (See studies below)

Women who have had one, two, or more previous induced abortions are, respectively, 1.89, 2.66, and 2.03 times more likely to have a subsequent pre-term delivery, compared to women who carry to term. (See more information here.)

Placenta previa, a condition where the placenta covers the cervix, is seven to fifteen times more common after abortions. This condition can cause serious and sometimes life-threatening bleeding during delivery.

Abortion can also lead to endometriosis. According to Medline Plus:

A medical procedure that involves entering the uterus through the cervix will increase the risk of developing endometriosis. This includes a D and C. hysteroscopy, and placement of an intrauterine device (IUD).

It also includes abortions, where instruments are passed through the dilated cervix.

It is not unusual for abortion providers to downplay the risks of having abortions. Assuring women that having multiple abortions will not affect their fertility is unscrupulous.

Will the fact that some pro-choicers are now embracing the idea of abortion as birth control lead more people on the fence to see how extremist the pro-abortion movement has become? Will the general public finally see that the hardcore pro-choicers are not representative of the majority of people in our country? We can only hope.