Monday, September 12, 2011

Holy smoke: check out the disparity in abortion rate between cohabiting and married couples

by John Jalsevac

Pro-life activists have long pointed out that in order to end the great human rights tragedy of abortion, it isn’t enough simply to fight abortion in the courts or the legislatures: it’s necessary to build a “culture of life” where abortion is unthinkable, and where the social structures actively encourage protecting life.

In many respects the central fight in this battle is the fight over the family and marriage. Studies have consistently shown that stable families built upon life-long, committed marriages between a man and a woman are by far the best for protecting life - and it isn’t hard to see why: a woman is more likely to go through with a pregnancy when she knows she’ll have a husband around to help her care for and raise the child, and a man is less likely to pressure the mother of his child to abort (even when the pregnancy is unintended) when he has committed to spending his life with her.

In the case of less stable relationships, however, when an unintended pregnancy occurs, the man and the woman are more likely to want to “get rid of the problem,” “just in case” the relationship breaks down in the future.

Now comes a recent study reaffirming this fact in a powerful way. Just take a look at this chart.

Can there be any doubt?: fighting abortion also means fighting for marriage, and against the culture of “anything goes” sexual promiscuity that has lead to the deaths of millions of our children. We need to build a culture of life.

The chart was made up by David Schmidt of Live Action based upon data from a recent study: Unintended pregnancy in the United States: incidence and disparities, 2006

h/t LiveAction.org

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