Abortion Is Like A Car Accident

Working through the reproductive choices modern American women actually have (my previous essay) was a fascinating exercise, for me.  A revelation, really.  As always, every answer raises new questions.

If women have this blizzard of reproductive choices, how does an unplanned pregnancy happen, in the first place?  On a hunch, I googled “unplanned pregnancy alcohol” and “risky sex alcohol”.  I.e., I’m guessing that booze has something to do with it.

A 1984 study says, "Nah".  But, this seems impossible since the widely accepted number is that 25%---yes, 1/4---of all pregnancies are unplanned.  Note, this study is old and small.

Digging further, I found this item from the National Center for Biotechnology Information,  a division of the National Institutes of Health,

“A study of drinking habits and sexual behaviors of heterosexuals found that women and men who frequently combined alcohol use with sexual encounters were generally less likely to use condoms during sexual intercourse...
“In 1998, an estimated 400,000 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 had unprotected sex after drinking alcohol, and an estimated 100,000 had sex when they were so intoxicated that they were unable to consent (Hingson, et al., 2002). In a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 23% (5.6 million) of sexually active teens and young adults ages 15–24 in the USA reported as having had unprotected sex because they had been drinking or using drugs at the time.”

and so on.

Other studies come to the same conclusion.  E.g., "Binge drinking leads to unwanted pregnancies."

Clearly, alcohol and, probably, other drugs contribute to the shocking rate of unplanned pregnancies.  In other words, unplanned pregnancies are a lot like “DUI”, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Interestingly, in October, 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, reported (it’s a PDF download)
“alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities accounted for 28 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States in 2016.”

So, 25% of all pregnancies are unplanned, and alcohol is involved; 28% of all driving fatalities involve alcohol...unplanned pregnancy sure does look a lot like DUI.  And, people get killed in both cases.

In real life, even if they are not killed, a lot of people do not just walk away from a car accident.  Many people suffer permanent, life-altering injuries.  Spinal cord injuries could mean partial or complete loss of the use of arms or legs.  I knew a young woman whose head went through a windshield, and she lived with permanently impaired short-term memory.  Death and disfigurement.  The horrors, of car accidents, are legion.

Now, consider the following thought experiment.  Suppose John survives a car accident, but he is seriously and permanently injured.  Given the bizarre nature of his injuries, doctors could cure him completely, but they would have to kill somebody else to do it, some innocent third party.  Should John and his doctors proceed?

Is that a bizarre or irrelevant thought experiment?  I think that is pretty much what an abortion is all about.

One of the great apologies for abortion is that a baby permanently changes a woman’s life.  For many young women, this change is deeply unwelcome.  It could mean not going to school, not getting a better job.  If the father is not involved, an unplanned child could doom the mother to a lifetime of poverty.  The consequences of an unplanned pregnancy are serious.

But, kill the baby---an innocent third party who was not even at the party---and all her disabilities are cured.  Just like John, from the thought experiment.