I obviously do share a concern for women who are desperate for an abortion. In fact, my concern is broader than that. I have concern for all woman who find themselves facing unplanned pregnancies, especially when they don't have robust support networks in terms of a husband, or other family, friends, or a community of faith that can help.

But if some of these women are so desperate for an abortion that they will get one anyway, is my take away suppossed to be that abortions are good?

I think the data is conclusive that behavior would change if abortions became illegal. Just consider what the Dobbs vs Jackson ruling has done (This article is a good place to start: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/29/1113573995/more-people-are-opting-to-get-sterilized-and-some-are-being-turned-away). And remember, this isn't even in response to abortions becoming illegal, much of the response to Dovvs vs Jackson is a rection to the possibility that abortion might become illegal.

Plus, consider what it would mean for behavior to not change in relation to abortion becoming illegal. There are well over half a million abortions every year in the U.S. If abortion became illegal tomorrow, are you really suggesting there would be half a million back alley abortions over the next year?

I think where you've gone wrong is in mistaking the anecdote for the data. Yes, back alley abortions have likely happened in world history. That doesn't mean that there were 500 million a year in our country's own history.

But I'm also struggling to find the significance of the argument. If it were legal to kill jews and you were campaigning to change this, would you really find it to be a compelling argument if someone said "well if we make it illegal, people will still kill Jews, but they might resort to more dangerous methods"?

In terms of the mental health angle, we have an issue. And the issue is that mental health is far worse than our society than in even the most oppressively patriarchal societies imaginable.

And it's easy to see why, even if it's politically incorrect to say. The popular image today is of a woman in anguish because she has been saddled with marriage and children which are conspiring to keep her from self-actualizing. But people who take on such responsibilities don't tend to be suicidal (suicide is an interesting issue when it comes to gender. Women attempt suicide far more often than men, but men commit suicide far more often than women because they have a higher success rate). It seems to me like our culture is getting rid of all purpose and meaning and encouraging people to look for it in the only place it can't be found: themselves. So you can't identify as religious, because religion is just superstition for the weak-minded. You can't identify as American, because America is systemically racist. A woman can't find her identity in the superpower of motherhood, because that would prop up the patriarchy. But if your foundation isn't bigger than yourself, it's the same as having no foundation.

Now, there are some acutemental health issues to mention, such as post partum depression. This one can be a bear and I've seen it up close and personal. Yes, we should have medical professionals who understand this and how to care for it. But it's not like it's new. Women have been coping with it for centuries.

And it's not like you can say that there are no mental health dangers of abortion. Having a "doctor" kill your child isn't eactly something you just move on from.

And yes, all these things should be taken into account, but even if the balance turns out to be that abortion is better for the mother (and that's a pretty tough sell), the mother is not the only one impacted here. The father is certainly impacted, but far more significantly, the baby is. And the difference between life and death is a far bigger difference than post partum depression vs. regret.

One more thing that we haven't touched on is the incalculable benefit of doing the right thing. This effect is most powerful on women who consider abortions. To know that you made the right decision even when there is pressure not to is a powerful thing.

Speaking of pressure, that's another thing we haven't tackled. How many abortions are performed under durress? I remember reading an article by a woman who was explaining why she switched from pro-choice to pro-life. Her very first point was that out of the five women she knew who had had an abortion, all of them were pressured into it. Always by a man. I'm not sure exactly how common this is, but it's certainly not zero. People in stable marriages don't tend to even consider abortion an option.

I get that the hearts of sympathetic, high emotional intellgence people feel for women who are in tough situations and want to affirm them in whatever choices they make, but the more you look into abortion, the uglier it gets. It's ugly from every angle. It's a "choice," but it's a choice that is fundamentally degrading.

I think more people would be better off having children. I think my country's aversion to kids is pathelogical. But I at least hope we come to the point where we say we won't kill the kids. There are lots of options for women that don't want kids. Killing the kid shouldn't be one of them.