Abortion and the elephant in the room

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“I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species we've fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don't believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of war, famine, epidemic, pain and life-long poverty shows us that, whatever we tell ourselves, we've made only the most feeble of efforts to really treat human life as sacred.”― Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Woman

Is it just me, or is anybody else sick and tired of the incessant back and forth in the abortion debate? Ever since Roe v Wade in 1973, Missouri has chipped away at abortion rights, making it almost impossible to obtain, culminating in the 2022 reversal by the supreme court that outlawed it statewide. Voters reinstated abortion rights in 2024, only to have the legislature attempt to outlaw it again in 2026.

Meanwhile, Missouri ranks low in maternal care (52% of its counties qualify as maternal care deserts), childcare (65% of counties are childcare deserts), and infant mortality (39th in the nation) and the Big, Beautiful Bill threatens to take away even more healthcare and food for children and their mothers in 2027. Ob/gyn doctors have understandably stayed away from the state given its unclear status on abortion, and all aspects of prenatal and maternal care have suffered.

This year, we have Amendment 3, the latest attempt by the anti-abortion minority to take away women's rights to their bodies. The proposal also promises to end childhood gender transition surgeries, the scapegoat du jour for the right today. Already banned by the SAFE act, this ballot candy is only there to confuse voters.

Some say that the bill leaves a new exception for rape, incest, medical emergency, or fetal anomaly, making it more humane. These exceptions can be easily ignored, especially in areas of medical judgement, where jail time awaits doctors who perform abortions that could be disputed. And with the shortage of abortion providers statewide that this bill will make worse, victims of rape or incest will have almost an impossible time finding anything within the 12 weeks deadline. Plus, there's a loophole in Amendment 3 that allows the legislature to add more restrictions later. They're only in there to get the bill passed this year.

I have a feeling that whatever the result of this vote, this issue will not go away until we address the elephant in the room. Like it or not, the abortion debate is just a symptom of a much bigger problem- the demographic time bomb. America is aging, and birth rates are about as low as they've ever been. Deaths are estimated to start outnumbering births by 2030, and fertility rates have declined well below replacement level. Social Security will face decreases in 2032, and Medicare in 2033, while millions more baby boomers retire. Most industrialized nations are facing the same conundrum- fewer and fewer young people working to support the growing number of senior citizens and retired people. At some point the math longer works, and yet no country seems to have figured out how to fix it.

The imperative to procreate is a powerful, primal one, and it's drilled into our DNA from past generations, when people didn't live nearly as long as they do now. The fertility rate measures how many live births a woman is expected to produce, and the rate in the US has been below replacement levels since the 1970's, coincidentally when the pro-life movement began. For the United States to grow and prosper, it needs to replace its population with every generation, and that's no longer happening.  Pro-birth advocates are, at some level, more worried about creating more taxpayers, customers, parishioners, and workers than they are about the world they will inherit.

The problem is that by deciding that the role of women is primarily as baby factories, we in effect deny their rights to control their own bodies and destinies. Society might make more babies that way, but will they be happy ones? And are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary to support them if their mothers can't? Or are we creating Gilead, where handmaids are slaves to their own fertility? Bringing a new child into the world ideally should be a conscious decision, planned for ahead of time and supported by loving parents and relatives. Sure, unplanned pregnancies work out some of the time, but the odds are against them.

Procreation and demography are threatened by four realities of modern life. Abortion is obviously the first one, but so is birth control, which could eventually be outlawed given the stated goals of the pro-life movement. Third, homosexuality is seen as a threat to procreation, which it is. Gays and lesbians don't choose their orientation, and to demonize them for it is counter-productive. Gay couples can, however, provide a loving home in which to raise children, and that should be encouraged. And fourth, the money required to raise a child today is daunting to say the least. (Over $300,000 per kid), according to some estimates.)

The decline in birth rates is a legitimate concern for all of us, but forced childbirth is not the answer to a demographic bomb. It's a recipe for broken parents, children, and teens living a life they never chose. I agree that life should be sacred and abortions should be rare, but I'm more concerned with saving the lives of the most vulnerable that are already among us.

The best options to rebalance the population problem are ones that need to be considered seriously before getting lost in a futile abortion debate.

• A reasonable, intelligent non-racist immigration system, with a path to citizenship. Immigrants have been keeping our economy afloat for decades.

• More government and private sector help for parents, especially regarding parental leave, childcare, education, food, and medicine.

• Hope. Young people need hope for a good job, livable climate, affordable housing, and ability to pay the bills before ever deciding to bring another human being into the world.

  
  

    Young women shouldn't have to go backwards and give up their rights because the men who ran things didn't plan ahead. The next decade will require sacrifice, compromise and plenty of creativity, not more sneaky amendments like #3. Vote NO on amendment 3.

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