Abortion Access Is the Wrong Conversation to Be Having

“Choice” and “life” are powerful words that dictate the human experience.  Simply staying alive requires us to make certain choices, and having the ability to make certain choices allows us to truly live.

In some countries, choice making is enslaved to survival. In the United States, we have an unbelievable amount of freedom to pursue choices that we believe will make our lives better.

“Choice” and “life” are deeply connected, yet, the two words are pitted against each other in one of the most polarizing topics at the moment: abortion.

The right to have an abortion was made law with the landmark case Roe v Wade in 1973. The topic has been fiercely debated ever since, and it has hit the Supreme Court’s docket once more. A leaked opinion draft indicates that Roe is about to come crashing down.

I’ve been on both sides of the abortion debate in my 29 years, and I’ve come to realize that the conversation is totally wrong.

Debating access to abortion is simply picking at the low hanging fruit.

The real topics we need to be discussing are how to give people the tools they need to avoid an unwanted pregnancy and addressing the outrageous costs of raising a child. Mandatory sex education, access to affordable male and female birth control, and affordable childcare are all productive places to start. Check out my full deep dive on the topic with research and data HERE.

Politicians and people are fighting so hard to support life that doesn’t exist while putting current life to the side. To me, truly being “pro-life” should mean helping the environment and addressing climate change. Affordable, quality health care. Affordable housing options. A good education system. Healthy and nutritious school lunches. Accessible mental health services. A fair prison system. Updating algorithms and programs that are systematically racist and sexist.  The list goes on. Protecting the life of a potential fetus while the destroying the world that fetus would be born into is hardly ethical.

I understand why people are pro-life, and I understand why people are pro-choice. But restricting access to abortion doesn’t mean people are going to stop getting abortions. It just means that the rich will fly somewhere to get it done while the poor will be forced to resort to unsafe practices.

At the end of the day, “choice” and “life” are two things that transcend party lines. It’s time to stop fighting over the low hanging fruit of abortion access and getting down to what really matters: giving people the proper tools to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, creating an economy that makes raising a child affordable, and taking action to make the United States a place worth living in in years to come.