Amazing Development!

In a stunning revelation it appears that making women watch an ultrasound of an abortion makes them less likely to opt for the procedure.

The author of the linked piece sees this as a positive way to reduce abortions, which he rightly points out is a goal shared across the political spectrum, "...even the most ardent pro-choice advocates, including President Obama, insist that nobody is for abortion and that everyone wants to reduce the number of abortions."

He seems to be slightly confused, however, by what that means. The idea is not to intimidate and terrify women into having a child they would otherwise abort. The pro-choice movement (and I recognize I'm speaking broadly here) wants abortions to lower because the socio-economic conditions that often lead to unwanted pregnancies have been dealt with. The 90's saw numbers of abortions decrease as access to legal abortions increased. And the statistics reflect the economic nature of unwanted pregnancy and abortion, "The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level...is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level...This is partly because the rate of unintended pregnancies among poor women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty..."

But I do enjoy the rhapsodic surprise of the author when he notes, "Upon seeing what happens during an abortion, many women might choose to have their baby rather than go through with the abortion." Yes, and Upon seeing a video of what happens during brain surgery, many people might choose to simply die of cancer rather than allow a doctor to slice into their grey matter. It works infinitely: upon seeing a camera shot of a doctor inserting some sort of device into their rectum, men might be less likely to show up for their scheduled colonoscopy.

But again we arrive at the fundamental strangeness of the pro-life position. That same group so anxious to curtail abortions could give less of a rip about hungry children, children without access to health care or homeless children. But if one of those kids should reach an age at which they can procreate, then by God you've got their interest...until they have the child and right back to blaming them for their lot in life.