30 June 2022

When I was in undergraduate school, I applied to participate in a summer leadership program. I was torn between spending my summer in a health-related service project or working in an engineering internship.

During the leadership program interview, the panelists asked a question about my stance on pregnancy, family planning and abortion, whether I was "pro life" or "pro choice." I think my answer surprised them because I answered, "I am both."

I explained that I did not support abortions for moral/ethical/spiritual reasons (and therefore I would not undergo the medical procedure). However, my faith did not put me in a position to make decisions for others who did or did not share my faith, especially when concerning to health-related choices and decisions. With the latest news concerning access to abortions, I might add: considering that it is essentially a medical and life choice, why would anyone aside from the individual (and perhaps family or friends) need to be involved in the matter?

Roe v. Wade Overturned

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the constitution does not equate the right to an abortion as a right to privacy and wrote that " yet health information privacy is already codified into law. "The authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives." Coincidentally, the Supreme Court majority is delaying a ruling regarding district maps that restrict voting rights. According to NPR, "As in Alabama, the delay ordered by the Supreme Court means that midterm elections in Louisiana have to take place this year using maps that lower courts have found are likely to hurt the power of Black voters."

Impact on Maternal Mortality

Several months ago I blogged about the Black Maternal Mortality crisis in the U.S. As with many other health-related disparities, limiting access to legal abortion will have a higher impact on Black women. According to a University of Colorado at Boulder study, "increased exposure to the risks of pregnancy would cause an increase of 210 maternal deaths per year (24% increase), from 861 to 1071. The increase would be greatest among non-Hispanic Black people, for whom it would be 39%."

Financial Impact

There is, of course, a financial impact of abortion. There is also a cost of unintended pregnancy. Despite political push to restrict or eliminate abortions, there is no equal push for providing economic supports for women who have children but cannot support them without assistance.

The cost of unintended pregnancies far outweighs the cost of performing abortions, $9.6-12.6 billion compared to $.469 - .697 billion.

Abortions and Poverty

People living in poverty have greater life challenges than others. According to Marketwatch, "nearly half the women who have abortions live below the poverty line."

It often follows that families experiencing financial hardships experience hardships in obtaining adequate housing, nutrition, medical care, education, and also criminal activities. The presence of children in such an environment can---but does not always---include abuse and neglect of children however, a March 2022 study (and one over 20 years ago) discusses the link between poverty and child abuse.

Child services (foster care and adoption) are often cited as alternatives to abortions. These services are not always the best answers for children, especially Black children. According to a report by the Children's Bureau of the U.S. HHS:

"Families of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds also experience disparate treatment once they are involved with child welfare. Relative to other children, African-American children spend more time in foster care (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2007a) and are less likely to reunify with their families (Lu et al., 2004), and compared with White children, they are less likely to receive services (Garcia et al., 2016). In addition, African-American and American Indian or Alaska Native children are more likely than other children to be removed from their homes (Maguire-Jack et al., 2020) and to experience a termination of parental rights (TPR) (Wildeman et al., 2020)"

Although I was not accepted into the leadership program, my answer to the interviewers would be the same today---I am Pro Life | Pro Choice. Instead, I spent that summer working as an engineering intern, completing small projects at a manufacturing plant. I have no regrets about my career trajectory, but I wonder how things might have been different if I had been able to participate.