All human life is valuable. That includes the life of the unborn, but it also includes the life of the mother, the lives of children already born, and even fathers and grandparents. There are many issues that have not been considered with respect to a broad ban on abortion.
If women can’t effectively plan their own child-bearing, then are women being recognized as full human beings and citizens of our democracy?
But these are concerns not only for women of child-bearing age. Men also share the responsibility of child-rearing. Even women who are past child-bearing age and older men often find themselves parenting grandchildren who can’t be cared for by the women who bore them. These are even concerns for society as a whole when one considers that social services that handle adoption and foster care are underfunded and overburdened.
Surely we can all agree that children should not be brought into the world if they are unwanted. Doesn’t every child deserve to have the opportunity for love and appropriate financial support for a healthy life? Every child deserves to be a conscious choice by a parent or parents.
Deciding to bear and raise a child is an awesome responsibility, and a responsible choice involves a wide range of considerations. For a single mother, women’s pay is very important in calculating whether she can afford the child. Women’s pay has gradually increased in relation to men’s pay, but it is still lower at 83% according to the US Census Bureau as of 3/15/22. Another factor is that Alabama has a low minimum wage ($7.25/hour). A family may be able to afford supporting one child, but not more. For a single mother or a couple, childcare options are also significant. Some people can rely on unpaid help from family members (like a nearby grandparent), but that is not the case for many people in our mobile American society. Child care can be difficult to arrange, and it is expensive. What about health care for the child, especially if the child develops a condition that requires expensive treatment? And what about the child’s future? Responsible parents need to plan ahead to pay for higher education if appropriate, in order to increase opportunities for success in life.
What about the very real health risk for the mother-to-be? Even if we don’t consider the mental health issues involved in pregnancy, let alone the potential negative effects on mother and child of on giving the child up for adoption, the medical risks are often underappreciated. The decision to carry to term is a serious medical question that should be decided by a woman and her doctor. Existing health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, obesity, thyroid disease, and autoimmune disease can make pregnancy problematic. Childbirth itself has become increasingly safe for mother and child in the modern world, but Alabama has a shamefully high maternal mortality rate, especially for women of color.
And let’s not forget the people who are longing for a child but who suffer miscarriages. Or those who become pregnant but in such a way that no gestation and birth can occur. Ectopic pregnancy is relatively rare but serious and needs immediate medical attention once discovered. In this condition the fetus develops outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube. If left to grow, it may damage nearby organs and cause life-threatening loss of blood. In such circumstances, women need rapid access to reproductive health care. And what about the people who are able to take advantage of the technological wonder of in-vitro fertilization to achieve pregnancy, but then realize that there are other embryos that have not been used.
There are many issues that need to be considered that bear on the value of all human life, and these issues have not been addressed or even discussed in Alabama.
