Given how often we are accused of hypocrisy for not supporting contraception, it often comes as a surprise to many people to learn that the majority of pro-life advocates are not, in fact, anti-contraception.
Conservatives are generally portrayed by the media and pro-choice advocates as being opposed to contraception, wanting to take away birth control and the like. This naturally leaves many people confused by the fact that Democrat politicians are often the ones blocking efforts by Republicans to make things like over the counter birth control legal. However, the truth is that by even the lowest estimates, at a bare minimum around 80% of those who are opposed to abortion are also pro-birth control. Some polls have even shown that Republicans may actually be ever so slightly more likely to say that contraception is morally acceptable than Democrats are. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
However, while we don’t have any issue with contraceptives in and of themselves, the way in which the left often regulates and requires their provision often does cause problems for us, and whether or not we view it as an acceptable way to reduce abortions is another matter entirely. For a lot of us, I don’t think we do actually consider contraception an acceptable way to reduce abortion, not because of any inherent issue we have with contraception, but because we simply don’t view contraception as an effective way to reduce abortion.
While people generally seem to take for granted the idea that contraceptives reduce abortion, this may not actually be true. There is a lot of evidence out there that has generally shown contraceptives to be very ineffective at actually preventing abortions, or even lowering pregnancy rates.
For example, a systematic review from Obstetrics & Gynecology examined twenty-three different studies, including ten RCTs, four cohort studies, and nine uncontrolled observational studies that evaluated the effect of increased access to emergency contraception on contraception use, unintended pregnancy, and abortion. All but one of those twenty-three studies found that increased access to contraception does indeed result in significant increases in contraceptive use, however, no study found that this resulted in a reduction in pregnancy or abortion rates. (6)
Research on increased access to contraception has been performed in other countries as well, such as in Scotland, where large community intervention studies were performed by providing emergency contraception for literally tens of thousands of women. Despite widespread distribution and thousands and thousands of courses of the emergency contraceptives being used, no effect on abortion rates was found. The provision of emergency contraceptives is simply not an effective way to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy. (7)
We see this trend in studies of family planning services across the UK as well. No matter how it’s measured, no evidence indicates that the provision of family planning reduces either underage conception or abortion rates. Instead, it’s things like children in care and participation in post-compulsory education that have the most significant influences on underage pregnancies. (8)
Likewise, studies on the access and use of contraception in Spanish populations show that despite nearly doubling the overall use of contraceptive methods between 1997 and 2007, abortion rates increased at a comparable rate, and ultimately more than doubled as contraceptive use increased. (9)
Such results might seem counterintuitive. However, a lot of research on the subject indicates that in practice, family planning programs and programs that increase access to contraception are not only ineffective at reducing abortions, but may actually have the opposite effect, drastically increasing pregnancy rates in the long run. (10)
In any case, a lack of contraceptive access just does not seem to be a prominent issue in the United States anyway. The Guttmacher institute has shown that around 54% of women obtaining abortions were using contraceptives during the month they became pregnant, and of the remaining 46%, only 12% reported issues accessing contraception for any reason. All in all, that means that only 5.5% of women who got abortions had trouble obtaining birth control. Even if we were to assume that providing increased access to contraception would eliminate many of these abortions, the overall effect on abortion would seem to be pretty small. (11)
Ultimately while pro-life advocates don’t generally take issue with other people using contraceptives, we don’t always support it as some great solution to the issue of abortion. This isn’t because of some religious or moral issue we have with contraceptives however, it’s simply because we don’t think that they are an effective way to prevent abortions.
Sources
- I am a conservative. I agree with AOC on over-the-counter birth control. USA Today, opinion column, June 11, 2019.
- Do Pro-Lifers Oppose Birth Control? Slate, January 15, 2014.
- Americans, Including Catholics, Say Birth Control Is Morally OK Gallup, May 22, 2012.
- Birth Control, Divorce Top List of Morally Acceptable Issues Gallup, June 8, 2016.
- Very few Americans see contraception as morally wrong Pew Research Center, Where the Public Stands on Religious Liberty vs. Nondiscrimination, September 28, 2016.
- Population effect of increased access to emergency contraceptive pills: a systematic review Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vol. 109, No. 1, pp. 181-188, January 2007.
- Advanced provision of emergency contraception does not reduce abortion rates Contraception, Vol. 69, No. 5, pp. 361-366, May 2004.
- The economics of family planning and underage conceptions Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 207-225, March 2002.
- Trends in the use of contraceptive methods and voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the Spanish population during 1997-2007 Contraception, Vol. 83, No. 1, pp. 82-87, January 2011.
- Habit Persistence and Teen Sex: Could Increased Access to Contraception have Unintended Consequences for Teen Pregnancies? Duke University, working paper, January 22, 2011.
- Contraceptive Use Among U.S. Women Having Abortions in 2000–2001 Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 294–303, November/December 2002.
