#NotAllStorks
Despite what moralizing pro-lifers
think, the leading cause of abortion is not lack of religion or systemic ethical decay — it’s unintended pregnancy.
And, again, despite what many anti-choicers think, the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy is not religion or better ethics — it’s highly-effective birth control.
According to new numbers from the Guttmacher Institute, 2011 had the lowest number of unintended pregnancies in decades. The study shows that there were 45 unintended pregnancies for every 1,000 women aged 15–44 in 2011, down from 54 per 1,000 in 2008.
This is the first significant drop in the unintended pregnancy rate since tracking began in 1981. The number of people with unintended pregnancies seeking abortion was 42 percent, virtually unchanged from 40 percent in 2008. But with fewer people facing unintended pregnancies, the net abortion numbers are down.
I’m sure pro-life
activists would like to credit the drop in unintended pregnancies to abstinence education, despite all evidence that it doesn’t work. However, Guttmacher has a different explanation: IUDs.
The study reveals that IUD use rates increased from 2007 to 2012. Long-acting reliable contraception (LARCs) such as IUDs are highly effective at preventing unintended pregnancy because they leave so little room for human error (unlike the Pill). There's no way to forget to use a contraceptive that’s already in your uterus doing its thing all on its own.
So, hurrah for IUDs and programs that make them affordable and accessible to women!
One disclaimer: IUDs might help you avoid an unintended pregnancy, but they don’t help prevent STDs.
Condoms are still the best thing we have for that, so wrap it up, kids!
