Re-thinking Choice

Several years ago, I had a conversation with an acquaintance who had at one time chaired her state’s right-to-life convention. I couldn’t imagine what, short of political opportunism, made her so adamantly anti-choice.

I shared with her the reason why I held fast to my pro-choice position: Judaism requires that a fetus which is threatening the life of its mother be removed. Such a fetus is called a rodef, or a “pursuer.” I’ve always been skeptical of “slippery slopes,” and could easily imagine abortion under any circumstances being outlawed, preventing a Jewish woman from following the dictates of her faith (not to mention losing her life). The decision to abort should be between her and her rabbi.

My acquaintance then shared with me: During her college years, she had an abortion, and if I recall correctly, on more than one occasion. She and her college friends had come to employ abortion as the birth-control-of-last-resort. My guess is that the pre-meditation of pills or condoms belied their self-images as nice, devout Southern Christian girls. Once the damage was done, however, their backs were against the wall, and abortion became their only option (short of bringing shame to their families). Once my acquaintance married, had a family and became an upstanding citizen in her community, she saw the error of her ways, and set about the task of preventing her daughter from falling into the same trap.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago, when I heard a public radio show cite a shocking statistic: One in four pregnancies in the United States ends in abortion. How on earth did that happen?

I remember the pre-Roe-v-Wade world. When my college buddies faced the possibility of abortion, it was an expensive, dangerous procedure. As un-spontaneous (and therefore “un-romantic”) as birth control seemed, it was a far better alternative to emptying your pocketbook and taking your life in your hands. Apparently during the forty years since the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, birth-control-after-the-fact has become a norm in American society. No wonder the morning-after pill is such a hit!

I still cling to my belief in safe, legal abortion. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is simply not the government’s business. However, I do think it’s time for an aggressive education campaign on the part of schools, universities, religious institutions, physicians, nurses, and even organizations like Planned Parenthood. Young people—boys and girls—need to learn that sex is not an accident, that they must take full responsibility for their actions. If they want to be righteous, chaste little virgins, then fine, but walk the talk. If they’d rather be serious party-goers, then face up to it, and take the necessary precautions.

To this end, I’m a big fan of requiring parental notification prior to girls under 18 having an abortion, or even popping a morning-after pill. True, implementing it requires government intrusion, but if parents are faced with the reality of their children’s activities, they might be more likely to guide and monitor them in the future.

It’s time to regard abortion in the United States not as a crime, but as a serious epidemic, and focus our attention and resources on fighting it. But as we learned the hard way during Prohibition and in the “War on Drugs,” cutting off the source of an undesirable commodity is not only futile, but replete with unintended consequences. Education, with the goal of prevention, makes a lot more sense.