Reducing unplanned pregnancy should be a key pro-life priority

In a time when bad news dominates the headlines, it's thrilling to get a reminder of genuine progress. Early this week, that's just what we got, with the news that the abortion rate in America has hit its lowest level since 1973, the year that the Roe v. Wade decision offered constitutional protection to abortion.

In the early 1980s, abortion rates peaked at 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged fifteen to 44; today, that rate has been cut in half, per the Guttmacher Institute. For pro-lifers who are set to arrive on Capitol Hill next week for the annual "March for Life," news that abortion is on the decline should be cause for celebration. It should also serve as a reminder for conservatives who now hold the reins of government power to make sure the steps they take in the coming months serve to support, rather than inadvertently reverse, these trends.

Reporting by NPR reveals that while some pro-choice and pro-life advocates alike are positive about the new data, their attitudes diverge on what is causing the decline in the first place. Ideally, abortion would be falling because there is less demand for it, and some argue that the decline has much to do with reduced unplanned pregnancy. Yet the pro-life voice interviewed for the NPR piece instead focused on increased abortion restrictions as that cause for the decline in the abortion rate.

I cannot fathom why some pro-life advocates would dismiss the idea that abortion is declining because it is becoming increasingly unneeded, rather than because there are women who want one but cannot get it due to new laws. In an ideal world, elective abortion would fall to zero for lack of demand, not simply because it is denied to those who want it. And reducing that demand, preventing those unplanned pregnancies in the first place, ought to be a critical piece of the pro-life puzzle.

Thoughtful education programs and access to effective forms of contraception are key to preventing unplanned pregnancy. Yet this piece often feels missing from the puzzle when the discussion of how to reduce abortion comes up, with so much focus aimed at restricting abortion rather than preventing the circumstances in which one might consider it in the first place. Of course, this may be because talking about evidence-based sex-ed programs and birth control mean, well, talking about sex, or feeling like one is implicitly promoting sex, which isn't a comfortable topic for many people, including many conservatives. But for most people, contraception is not controversial.