Women Are Concerned About Violence, Not Abortion

Women Are Concerned About Violence, Not Abortion

— But Abortion Advocates Are Not Addressing the Violence of Unwanted Abortions

Are abortion advocates really concerned about women? Or are they fixated on an outdated and harmful agenda that is opposed by most American women?

The answers to these questions are suggested in a new poll conducted by the pro-abortion Center for the Advancement of Women. Pollsters found that just one-third of women say that abortion should be generally available. Thirty-four percent of women believe that abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother, while 17 percent believe abortion should be outlawed.

The poll also shows, significantly, that upholding the right to abortion is not a priority for women — even those who support abortion. Women ranked abortion next to last in a list of priorities. Of greatest concern was preventing domestic violence and assault (92 percent); followed by pay equity (90 percent); ability to take time off to care for family (74 percent); reducing drug and alcohol addiction (72 percent); and increasing women’s study of math, science, and technology (66 percent). Only 41 percent identified abortion rights as a priority.

The poll has shaken many abortion advocates, who have seen a steady drop in support for abortion among women over many years. According to the Center’s president, Faye Wattleton, who was formerly president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, “there is significant and growing support for severe restrictions on abortion rights.”

Women are right to be concerned about violence, including violence toward pregnant women. Studies of death rates among women in three different parts of the county — Maryland, New York, and Illinois’ Cook County — found that homicide was the leading killer of pregnant women.

Men who do not want to take on the responsibility of fatherhood may resort to abandonment, loss of support, threats, or violence if the woman refuses to have an abortion. In many cases it is known that the man committed the assault or murder because the woman refused to have an abortion.

In some cases, parents threaten to withdraw support, boyfriends and husbands threaten to leave, or women are told over and over that having a baby will ruin their lives and they simply have to have an abortion. For a woman who is already facing a crisis situation, this kind of coercion can be the final push toward making a decision that she would not have carried out if she had some support to have her child.

One Elliot Institute survey found that more than half of women suffering from post-abortion trauma said they were pressured to abort by someone else. Many of these women say they would have carried to term if they had been given support by someone close to them.

The concept of “choice” promoted by the abortion industry and its supporters is meaningless if women are being forced into unwanted abortions. Feminists cannot talk about ending violence against women and then support an industry that profits by performing abortions on victims of violence or coercion.