Have you heard the latest criticism of the Pro-Life movement? Pro-Life advocates are responsible for increasing abortion because “they refuse to consider common sense measures to prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion.”  Really?

You might recall the recent trend toward a Pro-Life perspective in our nation. This reduced sales appeal for abortion, actually viewing abortion as bad for women, was forcing abortion supporters to seek a new message to reach the public. Now you know what they decided on! It does not matter that the message lacks evidence to support its accuracy.

Yes, it is true that most Pro-Life advocates oppose “comprehensive sex education,” sales of the morning-after pill over-the-counter, pushing condoms virtually everywhere, and teen access to birth control without parental knowledge or consent.  The faulty premise is the claim that these approaches will reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Quite the contrary! The abstinence education programs that abortion advocates criticize as inaccurate and unscientific are responsible for recent decreases in abortion rates in many states. The other factor that has been effective is passage of laws that require parental notification before teenage abortion and informed consent for women about the risks of abortion as well as the development of the baby.

Abortion advocates oppose these approaches that actually reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions. They support “comprehensive sex education” and wider distribution of birth control. Whose ideology has an ulterior motive? Why would abortion advocates actually want fewer abortions? Rather, they know the nation wants fewer abortions so they contrived a message to claim they can deliver, but the message is absolutely false.

Bill Beckman