Abortion - Still a Discussion in 2019???

In some parts of the USA, the act of abortion has been or is about to be made illegal. No one, in the late 1970s could ever have dreamed of a world where Canada, in a few years time, maybe the last country in North America to allow women to make the choice as to what is best for them and their bodies (the law in Mexico is a bit murky but it appears as if more and more states within that country are leaning towards restricting abortion). It is beyond difficult for me to even consider the possibility that at least some Canadian politicians are dreaming about limiting/preventing access to abortion in Canada. It is a conversation that I thought was long ago finished.

It is clear that in the USA the discussion has become so polarized that the time for any attempt to have an informed, rational and constructive dialogue has long passed. On one side of the debate (interestingly mainly led by men), there are those who say that they believe that life starts at conception and that all life is sacred. To destroy the life of a fetus is therefore equivalent of murder and as in the case of Alabama's new law - those who perform an abortion could go to jail for a maximum of 99 years. On the other side of this ongoing debate are those (generally women) who argue that what happens to a woman and her body should be decided by that woman. There is no place for a compromise between those two diametrically points of view.

However, some of the facts that anti-abortionists use to support their case are wrong. And those points need to be discussed so that the fallacies of their conclusions can be driven home. The anti-choice people argue that abortion is not needed because young girls and their families are no longer embarrassed if a pregnancy occurs and secondly because there are lots of services available to support single moms and their child. While it may be true that that young girls who become pregnant are less likely to be stigmatised by their community, I have no doubt that there are many in that community who do see un-wed pregnancy as something shameful and proof of some sinful activity. However, it is the argument that there are sufficient services to support sole support mothers that is dangerously misleading.

It needs to be clearly understood that all of the data from statistical collection agencies such as Statistics Canada clearly indicate that children in single-parent families:
1) are more likely to have difficulty in school
2) are more likely to experience trouble with the law
3) are less likely to finish high school
4) are less likely to enter post-secondary education
5) are less likely to finish post-secondary education

By any measurement, children who are only supported by one parent have a more difficult time than do children living in two-parent families. Less researched is how successful or more likely how unsuccessful are the mothers as their education is interrupted, as they are forced to live in substandard housing and to work in low paying jobs. The cost of living with the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy for 18-20 years has not been adequately measured.

If the anti-choice people are truly serious about all life being sacred then I would suggest that those people start developing programs that would guarantee that all families have access to safe and affordable housing, that sole support moms are given a guaranteed income to allow for a reasonable standard of living, that there be ample opportunity for government-paid access to post-secondary education, that there be safe and affordable daycare for everyone who needs/wants it and that sole support families have available specialize support programs to ensure that children and their moms remain connected to their communities.

Of course, if all of that support was made available - people would say that young women were lazy and were getting pregnant so that they could live off of the government payments. Just like they do now when some of those same people question if some moms should be eligible for food stamps or welfare payments.