Reasons for Abortions: A "Responsible Choice"

By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.

AGI's 2000 demographic data show that nearly 61% of abortions are performed on women who have already given birth to at least one child. While that data and the more recent survey show that there are still those who have abortions to maintain a childless lifestyle or to keep people from knowing of their pregnancy or sexual activity, this is no longer the prevailing model. Most women who have abortions today do so because they see it as a decision somehow in the best interests of those involved.

Many ethicists and social psychologists who have looked at how people make moral decisions have argued that, on the whole, women tend to focus on relationships in making these decisions, rather than relying on abstract principles. The results from the AGI survey--and the subsequent interviews--tend to support that view.

As far as we can tell, there were no explicit moral questions on the AGI survey into women's reasons for abortion. Women do not appear to have been asked if they thought abortion was wrong, if they believed that abortion was a sin, or whether they thought abortion involved the taking of a human life. But what women told researchers in the in-depth interviews indicates that such things were very much on their minds.

Discussing the findings of the survey, Lawrence B. Finer and his coauthors state the following:

In light of the public debate over the morality of abortion, it is notable that women in our survey emphasized their conscious examination of the moral aspects of their decisions. Although some described abortion as sinful and wrong, many of those same women, and others, described the indiscriminate bearing of children as a sin, and their abortion as "the right thing" and "a responsible choice." Respondents often acknowledged the complexity of the decision, and described an intense and difficult process of deciding to have an abortion, which took into account the moral weight of their responsibilities to their families, themselves and children they might have in the future.

One interviewee readily identified the entity growing inside her as a "child," but still saw abortion as the right thing for all concerned.

I am on my own, and financially and mentally, I can't stand it now. That is one whole reason. ... It's a sin to bring a child here and not be able to provide for it. ... This is just in the best interest for me and the children--no, my children and this child.

Survey data found this sort of attitude to be typical. Most women did not claim that they were having abortions for the sake of their own personal goals, but for what they saw as their obligations to others.

Finer declares, "Most women in every age, parity, relationship, racial, income and education category cited concern for or responsibility to other individuals as a factor in their decision to have an abortion. ... [O]ur data suggest that after carefully assessing their individual situations, women base their decisions largely on their ability to maintain economic stability and to care for the children they already have."

As a "special research affiliate" of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion chain, AGI obviously has an interest in making these women's decisions seem careful and reasonable. But the assumption that abortion can be a responsible choice blinds the abortion lobby, and by extension, many of its clientele, to the horrible Faustian bargain these women are being asked to make.

Concern for others is both natural and appropriate, and circumstances may indeed be dire. But in all the discussion of hard decisions and noble purposes, one should not lose track of the fact that the very idea that one can or should address those concerns by taking the life of another human being, by the destruction of one's own flesh and blood, is appalling.

Were it not for the social sanction of abortion's legality, its widely advertised availability, and the social pressures and expectations this brings, a woman would never be forced to consider, much less be pressured into, such an abhorrent "solution," one that turns a mother's natural instincts against her own unborn child.

Worth noting is that Finer and his associates admit that what they heard from women in the interviews suggested that "abortion was not something they desired." It was simply that, given their circumstances, "They saw not having a child as their best (and sometimes only) option." So much for "choice."

If abortion were not an option, women might be more open to adoption. AGI says women were not asked about this directly on the survey. However, more than a third of interviewees said that they had considered adoption but dismissed it as a morally unacceptable option.

Why? Because they believed (as AGI summarized it) that "giving one's child away is wrong" (though apparently killing that child isn't wrong for these women or is at least thought a lesser evil than adoption). Women's knowledge and understanding of adoption in the abortion era is evidently deficient and this is obviously an area where there is work to be done.

Abortion distorts the entire moral calculus. It has women considering, and in many cases choosing, an option they clearly don't want, one that goes against the basic fiber of their being. It allows others--the women's partner, her extended family, her community, and society at large--to ignore the dire economic and social circumstances these women face and make it wholly, and unfairly, the mother's individual responsibility.

The work of the nation's crisis pregnancy centers, or pregnancy care centers, is critical in this regard. Dedicated staffers at these centers not only tell women of alternatives to abortion, but work to provide them. Such centers make sure women know of and can access whatever assistance is available in their areas, not just for the woman and her child, but for her whole family.

Many centers offer help with budgeting, nutrition, health care, access to job opportunities, childcare issues, relations with the child's father, self esteem issues, and simple psychological support. No woman should feel forced to do something she believes in her heart to be wrong.

The basic message of the sanctity of all human life must clearly continue to be emphasized. We cannot tolerate, as a society or as individuals, any answer that calls on us to shed innocent blood, to sacrifice our own children.

Abortion isn't any answer for these women. It leaves external circumstances pretty much as they were before, while leaving the mother with an unquenchable ache deep down in her soul. Her relationships are not more stable, her children are not better cared for, there is not more food on the table.

Killing an innocent child is never in anyone's best interest--not society's, not the family's, not the father's, not the mother's, and certainly not the unborn child's. We must continue to make the case, and to make the opportunity, for a better way.