Nearly 50,000 women die of unsafe abortions each year. These deaths occur almost exclusively in areas where abortion is unsafe or inaccessible. Republican lawmakers seem determined to make the United States, already the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth, yet another place where women routinely die of illegal abortions.
They say it’s because they care about fetuses, because women or coerced into abortion, or because banning abortion will force “responsible” sexual choices. An avalanche of research proves they’re lying. Numerous studies consistently point to a handful of strategies that can lower the abortion rate. Republican leaders oppose them all. Here’s the recipe for slashing the abortion rate without killing women, orphaning children, or leaving families in poverty:
Reproductive Healthcare Access (Especially for Young People)
When people lack access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including counseling about contraceptive options, they’re more likely to get pregnant or impregnate a partner. There’s a clear correlation between confidential and free access to reproductive health services for young people and a lower abortion rate.
This abortion-lowering measure is continually under attack by self-styled pro-lifers. Republicans often oppose confidential healthcare for young people, instead favoring parental notification laws. They want to defund free and low-cost clinics, seek to end healthcare access under Obamacare, and believe that health insurers should not be required to cover free or low-cost reproductive healthcare.
Free Birth Control
Birth control is expensive. It often comes with the additional cost of scheduling a doctor’s appointment and missing time from school or work to go to the appointment. Without paid leave and health insurance, a single pack of birth control pills can end up costing several hundred dollars. And for minors whose parents oppose birth control use, access to birth control may be nonexistent.
Research has repeatedly shown that access to free birth control reduces the rate of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. One study of 9,000 women compared teens given free contraceptives and reproductive health counseling had about 20% as many abortions as their peers. Among teens given contraceptives, the abortion rate was just 9.7 per 1,000, compared to 41.5 per 1,000 among teens not given free contraceptives.
Comprehensive Sex Education
States that offer abstinence-only sex education have the highest teen pregnancy rates. This may be because, even when teens choose to use the contraceptives these programs tell them to avoid, they’re less likely to use them correctly. Comprehensive sex education ensures teens know about the wide variety of contraceptives available to them, increasing the likelihood that they will actually use them.
Republicans continue to try to divert funding to abstinence-only sex education—often by taking the money from programs for needy children or programs to fund affordable healthcare.
Empowering Women to Decline Sex
Republicans have repeatedly told women to just “enjoy” being raped. They tell women they can’t decline sex if they dress or behave provocatively, or if they engage in any form of sexual contact. Numerous Republicans have gone on record opposing bans on marital rape.
Empowering women to decline sex by teaching them that they have a right to control their bodies no matter what can lower the abortion rate.
Fund Birth Control Research
Finding the right birth control can be challenging, especially since no hormonal contraceptives are available to men. Several studies have found that funding birth control research—rather than diverting resources to crisis pregnancy centers or abstinence-only sex education—could lower the abortion rate. Republicans continue to oppose any scientific research, and some want to see birth control made illegal.
Paid Family Leave
Having a child is unbelievably expensive. Republicans are doing everything they can to make it even more unaffordable. Though some, like Marco Rubio, have given lip service to paid family leave, the overwhelming majority of “pro-life” legislators oppose any legislation that would make it more affordable to have a child.
Better Maternal Healthcare
The U.S. is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth. While other industrialized nations have seen their maternal mortality rates plummet over the past two decades, maternal deaths and complications in the U.S. have skyrocketed. Republican leaders are wholly uninterested in ensuring women survive childbirth, and have consistently opposed even modest measures that could lower maternal mortality. They don’t even want insurers to be required to cover maternity care. After all, it’s not like anyone else suffers if a woman dies during childbirth.
Cheaper Pregnancy Care
Health insurers and hospitals seem determined to make maternity care unaffordable, even as the U.S. boasts the worst maternal healthcare outcomes in the developed world. Republicans want to see women continue to pay exorbitant costs for inadequate care. They don’t want insurers to pay for maternity care, are fine with making pregnancy a pre-existing condition, and refuse to fund low-cost options for poor women.
Even with the maternity mandate under Obamacare, health insurers routinely find ways to get out of paying. The national out-of-pocket cost for the average birth in the United States is $3,400—a sum most poor and lower middle class women can’t come up with, especially if they’re already paying to take time off of work.
Make Abortion More Accessible
It’s a paradox: making abortion more accessible can lower the abortion rate. Abortion rates are higher than ever in Latin American nations that have banned abortion. This may be because regions that make abortion accessible also enact other strategies to support women and children.
In the United States, restrictions on abortion drive up costs and force women to spend longer saving money for travel and medical expenses. This may push some women to seek more controversial late-term abortions. When abortion is accessible and safe, women have little reason to delay the procedure.
Republicans: No Price is Too High for Having Sex
Looking at the Republican legislative strategy makes their goals crystal clear: They want to ban abortion. They also want to ban birth control. Then they want to see women die from childbirth, either because they can’t afford care or because they can’t access quality care. If they don’t die, they want the women to go bankrupt, remain dependent on abusive spouses, lose their jobs, and raise children in poverty. When those kids go to school, Republicans hope to see them starve due to a lack of free lunches. There’s no price too high for having sex. It’s never been about life. It’s always been about punishing women and children. Have sex once and you deserve to suffer—possibly forever.