There are some persistent and erroneous images pushed by the anti-choice movement That the majority of women seeking abortions are white middle class teens. There is even a repeated claim that these young teens "only want abortions so they can fit into the bathing costumes" In the 1960's white middle class teens were the most prominent demographic but that is no longer the case - now it is women of colour who are predominantly living on or below the poverty line So why does the image of the white middle aged teen persist? The excepts from this thought provoking article have some answers While there have been some recent efforts by anti-choicers to target women of color in their marketing, they have every reason to stick to a narrative that focuses on young white women as abortion patients. For one thing, anti-choicers heavily promote adoption as the preferred alternative to abortion, so its in their interest to imply that most abortion patients would have otherwise produced healthy white infants ready to be snatched up by affluent couples. As the cultural standard for purity, white teenage abortion patients reinforce the idea that young women who have pre-marital sex shame themselves and their families. Women of color and poor women tend to be nastily stereotyped as sexually incontinent over-breeders (e.g., the welfare queen)the media doesnt obsess over their purity. http://prospect.org/article/demographics-abortion-its-not-what-you-think I absolutely cannot disagree with the conclusion which states The problem is that while the country is preoccupied with the sex lives of middle class and rich women, poorer women in this country are quietly having a sexual-health crisis. Already inadequate access to contraception is declining, causing the need for abortion access to rise. Bans on federal funding for abortion and affordable providers like Planned Parenthood shutting their doors puts even more stress on an already stressful situation. Forty years after Roe v. Wade, theres strong evidence that the dreaded pre-Roe black market for abortion has returned, though now it lives on in internet trade of shadily sourced abortion drugs instead of in makeshift clinics in back alleys. While the war over the legal right to abortion wages on, the big battle now is and should be trying to expand contraception access so that everyone, regardless of race or income level, has the same chance to determine when she gets pregnant as economically privileged women now enjoy.
Doubt she expects sympathy, but truth is truth. It reads much better than things like "women just want abortions so they can go back to out to the bar" or something along those lines.
No, it is not, it is stating a fact. """now it is women of colour who are predominantly living on or below the poverty line""
The Law of Unintended Consequences that the anti-rightists are incapable of comprehending is actually INCREASING abortions because they have shut down access to contraception.
No argument from me In reducing access to abortion they also have increased the timing of abortion. We are currently seeing abortion earlier and earlier simply because of access to "medical" abortion - when that becomes more available it will drop the average timing of abortion even earlier
This is an emotional issue. I can understand why people feel the way they do, even if I don't agree. The facts will never go away and those who want an abortion will always be able to get one. Always! If you really wanted to save the babies life, you would step up and offer an alternative. You don't and you won't. (I am talking to those who want to outlaw abortion, not you personally) Since this will never change, I am just going to leave this here: What's the difference between a pregnant woman and a light bulb?
