Aside from the exceptions I've stated I agree with, that ultimately is the reason for the majority of abortions:
Financial difficulty
Too young
Too many things to do in life
We wanted to have kids later
I have all the kids I wanted
Diapers are icky
It will make me fat
I don't like the father anymore
I was drunk when I got pregnant and would have been more selective had I been sober
This world is overpopulated anyway
This world sucks and I don't want a child to be subject to the evils therein
I don't want to parent alone
Wow, those all sound like they boil down to convenience. Let's look at the following survey results.
REASONS GIVEN FOR ABORTIONS: AGI SURVEY, 2004 [6]
| reason | % of abortions, most important reason | % of abortions, all reasons |
|---|---|---|
| rape | <0.5 | (1) |
| incest | (<0.5) | |
| mother has health problems | 4 | (12) |
| possible fetal health problems | 3 | (13) |
| unready | 25 | (32) |
| is too immature or young to have child | 7 | (22) |
| woman's parents want her to have abortion | <0.5 | (6) |
| has problems with relationship or wants to avoid single parenthood | 8 | (48) |
| husband or partner wants her to have abortion | <0.5 | (14) |
| has all the children she wanted or all children are grown | 19 | (38) |
| can't afford baby now | 23 | (73) |
| --unmarried | (42) | |
| --student or planning to study | (34) | |
| --can't afford baby and child care | (28) | |
| --can't afford basic life needs | (23) | |
| --unemployed | (22) | |
| --can't leave job to care for baby | (21) | |
| --would have to find new place to live | (19) | |
| --not enough support from husband/partner | (14) | |
| --husband/partner unemployed | (12) | |
| --currently on welfare or public assistance | (8) | |
| concerned about how having baby would change her life | (74) | |
| --would interfere with education plans | 4 | (38) |
| --would interfere with career plans | (38) | |
| --would interfere with care of children or dependents | (32) | |
| doesn't want others to know she had relations or is pregnant | <0.5 | (25) |
| other | 6 |
Rape, incest, health of mother, and health of child altogether account for 7.5% of all abortions. The rest are easily labeled as inconveniences, be they social, financial, career, etc. inconveniences. Even excluding the "other" category since we don't know what they are, they still means that 86.5% of abortions are simply matters of convenience.
I don't think the "people get abortions because their babies are inconvenient" argument is without legs to stand on.
Not too bad for safe and legal, but I don't think the US is exactly keeping them rare. 1.2 million abortions in our country each year. 1.04 million for convenience reasons. It's a stinking business I tell you. A stinking business.