Today we continue our exploration of the potential of several “fence-mending” strategies that can keep women facing unexpected pregnancies from falling into the river “upstream” leading to fewer of them needing to be saved from drowning “downstream.”
This is the River Parable we’ve been working with as a thought experiment (https://brettattebery.com/can-we-do-more-to-help-women-before-they-face-an-unexpected-pregnancy/).
In yesterday’s article, we reviewed pro-life legislation as an upstream strategy and found both aspects of it – restricting access to abortion and “laws teach,” – to be wanting in terms of their likely effectiveness at mending the fence.
And on the point of “teaching,” there is another method of teaching that has long been one of the pillars of pro-life activism.
For example, many fine books have been written about pro-life apologetics that teach pro-life advocates how to charitably explain the integrated logical soundness of the pro-life position.
In addition, science is clearly on the side of the pro-life position as it is an undisputed scientific biological fact that a new unique being of the human species is created at conception.
There are many excellent organizations whose main mission is to educate Americans about these and many other things so that people have a clear understanding of the pro-life position.
But the question we have to ask of the education pillar of pro-life is the same question we asked about pro-life laws: how effective is education at keeping women from falling into the river upstream?
And again, we can turn to empirical data to answer that question.
Remember that we are now almost three years on the other side of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the number of abortions has actually increased post-Roe in spite of the fact that many excellent pro-life organizations whose primary missions are education have grown considerably in the last decade, and produce excellent content that they successfully distribute widely on the internet and on the streets.
But in spite of this, the empirical data shows an increase in abortions, so education also does not appear to be a very effective fence mending strategy.
This may strike you as confusing given the logical strength of pro-life arguments.
You would likely agree with the proposition that assuming a young woman knows the whys about pro-life arguments, and is convinced they are true, that she would never choose abortion should she face an unexpected pregnancy.
I know this sounds logical, but it isn’t accurate.
Many women who believe in the truth of pro-life arguments still get abortions.
By way of example, consider research from CareNet in 2015 revealing that nearly 4 in 10 women who have had an abortion were churchgoers when they ended a pregnancy (https://care-net.org/churches-blog/new-survey-women-go-silently-from-church-to-abortion-clinic/).
How could this be you may be wondering?
We often use the word “fear” when describing the mindset of a woman facing an unexpected pregnancy, but in my experience working on the frontlines for over a decade, I think there is a more accurate word to describe what women feel: terrified.
Now I don’t know the last time you have experienced that emotion, and perhaps you never have, but if you have then you will probably recall that it is very difficult to think rationally when in such an emotional state.
Our brain’s fight or flight mechanisms take over.
The brain’s amygdala is firing so rapidly that it prevents the brain’s frontal lobe, where rational decision-making takes place, from working properly.
The result is that many women who believe what pro-life advocates believe end up not acting in accordance with those beliefs when faced with the terrifying fear of an unexpected pregnancy.
They panic, react, and abort.
As we close, I want to be very clear that I believe education about life in the womb, and about abortion, is very important.
But abortion data shows clearly that education alone does not serve as the foundation for more women to choose life.
It seems that education is more likely one pillar among other pillars that provide a firm foundation for choosing life.
There have to be other pillars that create a foundation that can effectively counter the terrifying emotions a woman feels when facing an unexpected pregnancy.
Does such a solution exist?
We’ll dive in to that tomorrow.
Regards,
Brett Attebery