Abortion
The reasons why women have abortions are diverse and vary dramatically across the world. Some of the most common reasons are to postpone childbearing to a more suitable time or to focus energies and resources on existing children. Others include being unable to afford a child either in terms of the direct costs of raising a child or the loss of income while she is caring for the child, lack of support from the father, inability to afford additional children, desire to provide schooling for existing children, disruption of one's own education, relationship problems with their partner, a perception of being too young to have a child, unemployment, and not being willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest, among others. An additional factor is risk to maternal or fetal health, which was cited as the primary reason for abortion in over a third of cases in some countries and as a significant factor in only a single-digit percentage of abortions in other countries. An American study in 2002 concluded that about half of women having abortions were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant. Inconsistent use was reported by half of those using condoms and three-quarters of those using the birth-control pill; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage. The Guttmacher Institute estimated that "most abortions in the United States are obtained by minority women" because minority women "have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy. Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice. 10 Abortion Arguments: 10 Arguments For Abortion, 10 Arguments Against Abortion. A majority of people in the United States believe abortion should be legal and regulated. These facts fly in the face of both sides of the argument. The left wants abortion to be free and easy to obtain. The right wants abortion outlawed. There is an obvious solution to this problem if the leadership of both parties would just step forward. But they don't.

The Kansas Abortion Message

8/3/22
from The Wall Street Journal,
8/3/22:

Democracy is working its will on the issue, as the Supreme Court said.

The press corps is making a big deal of the defeat of the Kansas abortion referendum on Tuesday, and for once they’re right. The 20-or-so point rout of the effort to strip abortion protections from the state constitution is a message to Republicans and the anti-abortion movement that a total ban isn’t popular even in a right-leaning state.

...voters were clearly wary of how far the Kansas Legislature would go if allowed to impose abortion restrictions. Nearby Oklahoma and Missouri now have near-total bans, and Kansans have been paying attention.

Anti-abortion forces can’t find much of a silver-lining in the vote. Their timing in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade was obviously poor as abortion-rights activists were motivated. Voter turnout was unusually heavy for a primary election date. The referendum did far worse than supporters expected even in conservative counties in the state.

A majority of the public supports a right to abortion at least up to several weeks of pregnancy. This is disappointing to those who believe life begins at conception, but it means the pro-life side has persuading to do if it wants to win the abortion debate.

Democrats and the press are touting the Kansas vote as a sign that progressive voters are motivated to turn out this year and might save their control of Congress despite inflation, rising crime and other national ills. That’s far from certain, but Republicans would be wise to take the warning seriously.

The Supreme Court didn’t settle the abortion question. It rightly returned it to the voters, and the Kansas referendum is merely the start of a long national debate.

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