There’s a Slate article, available here, saying that new evidence shows women are very sure about their abortion decisions.
A friend called me to tell me about it (well, actually, she called about something else but ended up mentioning this article.)
My very first reaction was this: “I bet they didn’t look long term.”
So here’s the study upon which the Slate article is based. All you need to know I will summarize here, see bold:
Eligible women at four family planning facilities in Utah completed baseline demographic surveys and scales before their abortion information visit and follow-up interviews 3 weeks later.
It is self-evident to me that three weeks later women could feel confident. When I talk about abortion and mention the long term, I’m not worried about weeks. I’m worried about years.
Example: If a woman gets pregnant in university and has an abortion, it might feel like you got rid of the “problem,” which is essentially an issue of how can she can possibly do life under these circumstances–with a baby? But say fast forward twenty years to a time when she desires to get pregnant but can’t. Would the abortion decision not come back to haunt her? My guess is yes.
A three week follow up so you can declare abortion to be consequence free is ridiculously unfair to women and girls.
So, Slate: Let me know when someone does a study assessing abortion regret after 30 years. Then (after checking methodology) I will pay close attention.
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