There has been a lot of excitement in the pro-life world following the overturning of Roe v Wade, and understandably so.
One of the words we’re now hearing being used often to describe states where abortion is illegal is “abortion free.”
When you hear that a state is abortion free, what do you think it means?
I think a lot of people believe “abortion free” means that no abortions are happening within the borders of the state.
This would be a good time to get VERY specific about terms, because speaking very precisely, there is no such thing as an “abortion free” state if one takes that phrase to mean that no abortions take place within the borders of the state.
How could this be?
The easiest answer to why there is technically no such thing as an “abortion free” state is the abortion pill.
Use of the abortion pill to conduct a so-called “DIY abortion” in the privacy of one’s own home is already very common – it’s estimated by various sources that more than 50% of abortions in the US this year will be done this way.
And even if laws in a state prohibit the distribution of the abortion pill across state borders, it is practically impossible to police the movement of two very small pills (the abortion pill regimen is actually two pills).
Imagine how easy it would be for someone in an abortion-legal state like California to obtain abortion pills, hide them in a package, and mail the package to a friend in an abortion-illegal state.
It’s very likely that this is already happening, and the frequency of such happenings will likely increase as more young people catch on that they can do this.
But what about abortion facilities?
Now I think it might be accurate to call a state an “abortion facility free” state, or an “abortion clinic free” state if you’re used to the term abortion clinic.
Abortion facilities can be policed to make sure they are not providing abortions.
Yet, this brings up another question.
Are we truly satisfied just to say that there are no abortions in the abortion facilities in our city and state?
What if young women from our abortion-illegal cities are simply driving, or in some cases flying, across state borders to get abortions in abortion legal states?
Because they are in fact doing exactly that.
I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t give me great solace to know that a local abortion facility closed just to find out that women who would have gone there are instead crossing state borders to get an abortion.
Choosing life is about the choices the women facing unexpected pregnancies are making, not about the operating status of an abortion facility located in a certain geographic location where abortion is illegal.
It is, of course, technically accurate to call a state an abortion-illegal state.
And I believe that’s exactly the term we should use.
But it misleads many pro-lifers if we use the word “abortion-free” state, because it can lead those pro-lifers to assume that either no abortions are happening in their state, or that all young women who experience unexpected pregnancies in their cities and states are now choosing life.
Neither of those assumptions is correct.
I think the leaders of pro-life organizations should be much more careful in the language we use because terms like “abortion free” do not accurately describe the reality on the ground.
There is no “abortion free” state.
This article was published in Heroic Media‘s weekly newsletter