Today in the world abortion rates are falling, thanks to the availability of other contraceptive alternatives. In developed countries abortion rates have fallen more than ten percent in the last twenty years. It is only in countries with oppressive religious laws, poverty and low rates of education that abortion continues to flourish covertly. Nobody wants to harm unborn children if they can avoid it. If you speak with women who have fallen pregnant and do not have the means to raise their child, they are devastated by the situation. You cannot and should not impose draconian laws on women in these situations. Instead you should take as many resources as you can to provide women with education, access to contraception and money to live on.
Poverty and Abortion: A Fatal Attraction
We all want babies to be born and children to grow up in loving and nurturing families, but if people cannot afford to properly feed and clothe their children it is a mistake to force people to comply with laws that force them into greater poverty. This kind of behaviour by the state is condemning its people to a cycle of endless poverty. Only through education will the standards of living be raised in third world countries and poor areas of developed nations. Abortion is a last resort for the great majority of women. Their bodies are designed to bear children and most women want to have children when the time is right. Anti-abortion laws do not lower abortion rates according to statistics recently published from research published in The Lancet.
You do not conceive and raise children at times of drought and famine; this only condemns those children to an early grave. Large families and extreme poverty mean high rates of childhood death. If the state cannot provide for those in need within its population, then it should not be enforcing them to have babies. No mother wants to kill her own children born or unborn. Do not force desperate people into desperate situations. Feed the people if they cannot feed themselves, this must be the first priority of the state. If we want stop the twenty five percent of abortions still happening out of every one thousand pregnancies worldwide, then we need to end poverty.
Do not bring more people into the world if you cannot adequately nourish them. Do not set yourself up as moral arbiter over the poor if you cannot look after the poor properly in your country or community. Personal debt saddles individuals with an inability to look after themselves, let alone another defenceless and vulnerable human being. Empower the people through choice and they will make the right choice. Provide opportunities for the people and they will take them with both hands. Do not support the rich minority at the expense of the poor majority and then complain about the morality of the poor. The poor cannot always afford your conception of morality. If you want to fight for the life of children, put your energy into ending global poverty.