People Want Abortion

 In the 1992 movie Singles, urban planner Campbell Scott is having a passionate conversation about the future of transportation with Kyra Sedgwick in his apartment. His dream is to transform Seattle with his idea for a "supertrain:"

Scott: "Let me ask you a question. You think about traffic? Because I do, constantly. Traffic is caused by the single car driver. Single people get in their cars every morning. They drive and wonder why there's gridlock. 

This is what I've been working on. If you had a Supertrain...you give people a reason to get out of their cars. Coffee, great music...they will park and ride. I know they will."

Sedwick: "But I still love my car, though."

Scott: "Well... Oh."

There's another one, in which Scott has a sit-down with the mayor of Seattle where he gives the same pitch, and receives the same response: People love their cars. He gets flummoxed, his pitch-window closing quickly. It's as if he couldn't believe that people would hold such an illogical view (driving a car) in the face of all the seemingly obvious advantages of public transportation.  

I've thought about that scene a lot over the years, and more recently, in light of the work of those involved in the pro-life movement. I'm sure those working tirelessly to support pregnant mothers, found crisis pregnancy centers, change legislation, and provide alternatives to abortion have found themselves from time to time feeling like their pitch to choose life comes up against a wall similar to that of the transportation planner in the film. And the wall is this:

People choose abortion because they want abortion

Despite it being healthy, natural, effective, and virtually free, less than 2% of the U.S. population utilizes Natural Family Planning.  The "inconvenience" of unwanted pregnancies in most people's minds far outweighs any potential advantages this system of regulation of births promises. It's a tough pitch to skeptics, because it requires a metanoia of mind and heart--in how we think of children, the Natural Law, and the means and ends of human sexuality, and the nature of personal sacrifice.

I bring up NFP because for many people, abortion has served as a kind of backup contraceptive in today's culture. Abortion-as-contraception doesn't prevent pregnancy, obviously, but is used to prevent the live birth of a child. Not all those who abort their child do so willingly--some are coerced by family members or boyfriends, even if they would in fact want the child. But many do choose abortion willingly as the most convenient, lowest-cost, least intrusive way to deal with their unwanted pregnancy. Even when they have the option to give up their child for adoption, or receive help in raising it.

I also get hot under the collar when I think of all those couples who DO want children but can't, and so are open to adoption. Is it a supply-and-demand issue that creates such financial and bureaucratic barriers to doing so? Even when a couple would pay for everything and beg and plead with a young woman tempted to abort to have the child, it is a rare incidence in which they decide to do so--they may not want to carry to term, or have people know they are pregnant. Abortion is "convenient," "easy." It makes the "problem" go away.

Abortion ushers in not only the death of a child but the death of the soul. It is not healthy--it deforms cultures and warps consciences. But when contrasted with what an individual is called to when they decide to raise up a child, the sacrifices called for, the commitment and potential difficulties, is it a wonder abortion is chosen as the "path of least resistance," the most "convenient" option? That doesn't make it good (an evil that can never be justified). But why are we surprised when people of a wicked generation choose what is wicked, even when presented with life-giving and live-saving alternatives? When 98% of people actively work to prevent pregnancy in their relationships through contraception, and when that fails always have abortion as a "backup?" 

I really don't have any answers. Maybe it's not a fair analogy, but sometimes I feel like the pro-life movement is that Supertrain pitch to try to get people out of their cars. Public transportation is a good thing in a lot of ways; it's efficient, it makes sense. And yet, people love their cars. They won't easily part with them. 

I hope I'm wrong. I wish we would have a mass-conversion away from the scourge of abortion-on-demand and a transformation to a culture of life. I don't know if this is the ethos of organizations like Live Action, etc. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those fighting in the trenches day after day, proposing alternatives and doing the good work. They are up against a lot. But people want abortion, because their ways are evil. Try to take it away and see what happens. We will not be delivered as a generation, but by grace.

I have to think that the words of St. Peter are a sober reminder, though, "And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" (1 Peter 4:18).  God wiped out humanity with a flood because of their wickedness. His patience will not last forever (Rom 9:22-24).