The day for which the far right has pined for 50 years has arrived. With Roe overturned, GOP-controlled state legislatures can now enforce laws requiring women to complete pregnancies against their will.
But like the dog that caught the car, they will soon realize the senselessness of their plan. Cruel legislation mandating transvaginal ultrasounds or allowing rapists’ families to sue when a rape victim aborts goes a long way to make women feel like second-class citizens but does almost nothing to actually reduce abortions. For that, lawmakers should listen to Democrats: 1) provide access to contraception and age-appropriate sex education to avoid unintended pregnancy and 2) support affordable child care, housing, family leave, pre-K and other policies that make motherhood economically feasible.
Instead, Idaho’s GOP politicians have blocked every policy that would reduce unwanted pregnancies or ease the path to motherhood, exclusively pursuing heavy-handed abortion bans. Don’t be fooled — these GOP legislators have done nothing to genuinely reduce abortions. Their actions have, if anything, likely increased them.
The fact is, bans do not reduce abortions. A woman committed to ending an unwanted pregnancy will find a way — whether by traveling to another state or by seeking illegal and potentially unsafe means. A United Nations study showed that abortion rates are higher in countries that restrict abortion access than in those that do not. Indeed, the lowest abortion rates in the world are in European countries where abortion is perfectly legal, but women have access to contraception, livable wages, paid family leave and affordable child care.
Why is abortion highest where it is banned? Observe Idaho, where the same politicians who ban abortion also oppose every policy that would either reduce unwanted pregnancies or provide a viable financial path to motherhood. Let’s start with access to contraception. A Washington University study shows that providing free birth control cuts abortion rates by a range of 62% to 78% compared to the national rate. Yet in Idaho GOP legislators obstruct contraception access at every turn. They killed a bill allowing access to six months of contraception, for seven years they blocked Medicaid expansion’s free contraception for low-income women, and now some GOP leaders are expressing interest in banning IUDs and other forms of birth control. Despite “pro-life” chest-thumping, this obstruction of contraceptive access only leads to more abortions.
Then there’s sex education — key to reducing unwanted pregnancy and thus reducing abortion. A University of Washington study showed that teens who received comprehensive sex education were 60% less likely to become pregnant. Yet GOP legislators persistently try to reduce the reach of sex education with ill-advised legislation requiring opting into such instruction. Such policy would only increase abortions.
Now consider the array of policies that would improve women’s financial footing so they are likelier to choose motherhood: paid family leave, affordable child care, pre-K, affordable housing and increased minimum wage. A majority of House GOP legislators rejected $18 million in funding for pre-K, opposed funding for child care and affordable housing, and have refused even to consider family leave or raising the minimum wage. No interest in offering a helping hand to pregnant women — only in flexing governmental power to force women through unwanted pregnancies.
You’ve been told for years that to reduce abortion, you should vote Republican. Not true. To actually reduce abortions, vote for Idaho Democrats. Don’t be fooled by self-proclaimed “pro-life” politicians whose actions increase unwanted pregnancies and undermine families’ financial security. We hope our GOP colleagues will soon change their tune and join us: Stand up for women’s bodily autonomy, reverse abortion bans and enact strategies that genuinely reduce abortion while respecting freedom — by reducing unwanted pregnancies and making motherhood financially feasible.