How Abortion Works, & Why Pro-Choice Is Not Pro-Abortion

I’ve been listening to Molly and Cristen again. The podcast I listened to this morning, available via HowStuffWorks.com, was about a topic we’re all familiar with, and likely think about at least on a monthly basis: abortion.

The podcast was based on an article Molly wrote called How Abortion Works, and it intentionally ignored the politics, ethics and arguments for and against abortion. Instead, Molly and Cristen focused on the actual procedures, recovery times and physical responses caused by abortion. With 1.3 million abortions being administered in the US each year (note: that number doesn’t include miscarriages) and statistics showing that one-third of women in the U.S. will have had an abortion by age 45, Molly and Cristen thought it pretty important that us ladies and gents actually know how abortion works, no matter what our personal choice would be if we were faced with the prospect of having one. Though the podcast and article are graphic – explaining everything from a medical abortion (take some pills, induce a miscarriage) to the banned-in-the-US partial birth abortion (wherein the unviable fetus’ brain is sucked out of its skull) – it’s honest. It gives you the truth as to what an abortion is, without fluff or defensiveness.

Thanks, ladies.

Though the article is pretty straight-forward, and the podcast title was just as direct (“A Politics-Free Abortion Podcast“), Molly and Cristen still got a number of heated responses…and finally, Cristen felt the need to respond (emphasis mine).

“One listener wrote in response to the abortion episode: ‘Just heard the podcast last night and you’ve made a pro-lifer out of me!!’

To which I say, you’re missing the point. Pro-choice doesn’t equal pro-abortion.

I support a woman’s right to choose, but before the podcast, I couldn’t tell you what the procedure actually entails in medical detail. Learning about these sometimes uncomfortable aspects of abortion procedures, particularly later-term procedures, has certainly informed my overall perspective on the issue — and that’s a good thing.

Am I still pro-choice? Yes. Am I pro-abortion? No. Women should have legal access to safe, affordable abortions, but I also advocate for providing safe, affordable pregnancy prevention so that women don’t have to make that choice to begin with. Let me underscore that again, in case anyone misread that the first time: I support a woman’s right to choose. But I also support health services that help women avoid unintended pregnancies. To me, that’s the best case scenario for everyone involved.”

I don’t know anyone that would say, with thoughtful intent, that they’re pro-abortion. I do, however, know people who say they’re pro-life, or pro-choice, or unsure…who don’t actually know what an abortion is. Why? Because we’re so busy arguing the ethics of abortion – the existence of a soul, the right to life and the right to your own body, the line between terminating a pregnancy and killing a living, viable person – that we don’t ever stop to learn about the mechanics of the act.

Maybe if we did, we’d be better able to argue for or against abortion, at any and all stages of pregnancy.

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