Aborto y Justicia Económica

Este articulo demuestra que el asunto del aborto y las razones que lo motivan son mucho más complejas de lo que los "pro-vida" estan dispuestos a aceptar.


The pro-life movement and economic justice

by Glen Stassen

When I wrote an opinion editorial last October (2004) on abortion numbers for 2002, it was widely reprinted. I stated clearly that "federal reports go only to 2000, and many states do not report." So, I explained, I had to search for state departments of health that had reported their results for 2002. I found the data for 16 states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Washington state, and Wisconsin. The total number of abortions in those states increased by a little over 6,000 in 2002, in comparison with the previous year.

Seven months later, with more data now in and with their extensive research staff, the Alan Guttmacher Institute has estimated - and they are clear it is an estimate - the number of abortions in the 43 states for which they have data.... They estimate that abortions in those 43 states probably declined slightly, but at a slower rate than previously - what I call a stall.

I gave several pieces of evidence that one very important factor in a women's decision to have an abortion was her belief that she could not afford to raise the baby. Another major factor was whether or not she had a reliable husband or mate. And when the unemployment rate is high, men tend not to marry. Countries such as Belgium and Holland, where the abortion ratio is only one-fourth as big as the United States, give mothers and babies strong economic support as well as health insurance. Other important factors include the mothers' own ethics, and support - or lack of it - from churches, schools, friends, and family.

Had my estimate that abortions in the 50 states probably increased as they did in the 16 states turned out to be right, it would have put significant pressure on the Bush administration to give more support to mothers and babies, and thus do much better in decreasing the abortion ratio. And it would have urged Democratic politicians to shift toward advocating policies that would decrease abortions. You would expect consistently pro-life advocates to be concerned if I was right, and thus increase the incentive and the pressure to reduce abortions.