Abortion and attitudes

THE EDITOR: I must thank Mr Eldon Warner for making such a clear case of the relationship between abortion and attitudes (Newsday, March 3).

He is correct, the huge decline in abortions in Russia is due to the far greater availability of modern contraceptives. These are the very same contraceptives that a foreign anti-choice organisation recently discouraged in our country. As in Russia, such action would only undermine FPATT’s magnificent service and result in many more abortions.

The evidence Mr Warner presents simply proves that women choose abortion as a last resort — regardless of the law. Where modern methods of fertility control are available, we use them. The widely held notion that an “abortion culture” existed in Russia because of legal abortion was proved false once contraceptives became available. Women’s attitudes were more important once they had a choice of methods of fertility control.

There is little evidence that making abortion more widely legal radically affects the numbers of actual abortions. Attitudes matter more than the law. Over the short term numbers increase. Over the long term they tend to decrease, often dramatically. This has bene the experience in Italy, Canada, Tunisia, Korea and as Mr Warner admits in Russia. The enduring and dramatic impact of legalising abortion is a radical improvement in maternal health. This occurs because there is a dramatic reduction in unsafe abortions. The real beneficiaries are typically poor women and poor families. The law seldom affects rich women who already have access to safe abortions regardless of the state of the law. That is why changing a restrictive abortion law is such a struggle. It does not affect the rich and the powerful.

JACQUIE BURGESS
ASPIRE