More on the abortion as birth control myth
by Karina
Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Action Fund
A week or so ago, Dr. Susanne Poppema wrote an article dispelling 4 major abortion myths. In response to the "Abortion as Birth Control" myth, she writes:
...in decades of providing abortion services to more than 30,000 women, I met only two women who used abortion as a birth control method. And they were absolutely right to do so. These two women experienced blood clots while on birth control pills, ectopic pregnancies with the IUD, and they were allergic to latex condoms and spermicide. Using the rhythm method with abortion as backup was the best method for them. I've never met a woman who cavalierly chose abortion as her method of birth control.
I also am incredibly tired of use the phrase "abortion as birth control." Not only is it not true, it's insulting and demeaning. For some reason, it seems anti's love to paint a picture of " ‘loose' irresponsible women who cares nothing more than to run around and have unprotected sex all the time." But this image really has no basis in reality.
In 2006 in South Dakota, 55.2% of women who had an abortion already had one or more children. I recently wrote about a new study that indicated that nationally 61% of women who get abortions also had one or more children. Just a brief recap:
... Among those women with children, the most commonly cited reason for choosing to have an abortion was the concern that having another child would compromise the care given to existing children. Women felt that they were already stretched thin financially, emotionally and physically-and they wanted to put the children they already had front and center. Two-thirds of women who gave this answer were at or below the poverty line and received little help from their partners.
Choosing to have an abortion in order to better provide for your existing children is a compassionate and responsible decision. Of course it's much easier for anti's to live in a world of myth, rather than accept the fact that women who get abortions, are real people with very real circumstances. This study, hopefully, will help bring that fact to light for the anti's. Women deserve more than disrespectful, oversimplified rhetoric that denies and makes light of their ability to make logical and reasoned decisions that affect their lives.
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