A nuanced perspective on abortion rights

The older I get, the more willing I become to consider that I might be wrong. So I often test my views by listening to those I disagree with. Sometimes I change my mind, and sometimes I don't, but it is always an enriching experience. So I listed to some pro-life voices, one of which claimed to have been sympathetic to the pro-choice arguments until the pro-choice side "kept pushing and pushing" for the right to abort all the way up until birth, which deeply offended her.

Though I don't seek to offend anyone, there are opportunities to be offended by what I write below for both sides in the great abortion debate. We've ceased to have real conversations about these matters, and most on both sides don't want to acknowledge anything the other side says as true, even if it obviously is, in order better their chances of winning the argument; because of this, we are stuck in a loop with no end in sight.

Here is a gallop poll showing how people currently feel about abortion. Not much has changed in the last 46 years, though there is a small shift toward pro-choice since 2019.

If there are medical complications like an ectopic pregnancy or other reasons that the pregnancy threatens the woman's life, 85% of people in the USA would support that. But in late term abortions where the fetus is completely viable, the choice to end a pregnancy is unimaginably horrific. How many of us could stand to watch a doctor perform an abortion on a woman 8 months pregnant? I think most, including most of the 35% of people who say it should be legal in any circumstance, would turn away in disgust. That's the reality that horrifies the 13% who say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, and I share in that horror; we all should.

A late term abortion of a viable fetus is unspeakably gruesome, but how many late term abortions are there? According to CDC statistics, 79.3% were performed at 9 weeks gestation or less, 13.2% were between 9 and 13 weeks, 6.2% between 14 and 20 weeks, and less than 1% greater than 21 weeks (40 weeks is considered full term). It's unclear how many of those provided after 21 weeks were due to medical complications, but I suspect most of them were. It seems there are a vanishingly small number of abortions in the 3rd trimester. I wonder how my pro-life muse got her information; could someone be fanning the flames of discord for political purposes?

Even an early term abortion is a very serious decision. In my twenties, I had a girlfriend that had an abortion a few years before we met. Her privacy prevents me from giving details, but the pregnancy resulted from events beyond her control, and she had to drop out of college as a result. I believe terminating the pregnancy was the right decision for her, and she did too, but still it haunted her. The psycho-spiritual effect of that decision was not trivial. Still, it was her choice, she made it consciously and experienced the consequences. No one can know the consequences of a path not chosen, but the consequences of carrying the pregnancy forward had potential impacts even more severe. It was her life, and it was her decision. To have had an external force like a government make that decision for her would have been a gross violation of her humanity.

Are we having more and more abortions? It seems not. Here is a quote from the same CDC report:

From 2010 to 2019, the number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 18%, 21%, and 13%, respectively.

We need to acknowledge the truth that aborting a healthy fetus is a procedure most human beings would witness with revulsion. We also need to acknowledge that it brings up vexing moral and ethical issues, as well as serious consequences with either decision. How would a pro-life person feel if they could force a young woman to give birth to an unwanted child if they then had to witness the mother and her child ending up in poverty and other struggles? I think most good human beings would feel deep psychological pain from this as well. The decision is too complicated and fraught with consequences to leave to anyone other than the person who will bear most of those consequences: the mother.

The argument for the pro-choice side has always been about who should decide, and not about whether it was right or wrong. Humans are complex creatures and we have complex relationships and a wide variety of spiritual beliefs. It's OK to think it's a wrong decision, but not OK to force your choice onto someone else, even if you were bearing the consequences (which you're not). 85% of Americans support a woman's right to choose, and I am one of them.