Since I often argue there should be fewer abortions I want to take a moment to agree wholeheartedly with Amanda Marcotte, Jill Filipovic and many others that abortion is a moral good. I’ll recap why I’d like to see fewer abortions in a moment but first I’d like to firmly settle the point that moral arguments against abortion are off the mark.

As Marcotte puts it: “it’s good if people with serious problems have solutions for them.” An unwanted, unplanned pregnancy can be a serious social, economic, emotional, psychological, and/or medical problem and it’s very good to have a solution for it.

Marcotte laid the marker down this way at Pandagon

I think that abortion is not only a good thing, but I’d like to posit that it seems to me that in the vast majority of abortions, the choice made was the most moral choice for that woman.

To see that abortion is moral, you just need to look at women as human beings with lives that have value. When a woman chooses abortion, she’s not indulging some guilty pleasure, like sneaking in a round of adultery at lunch, to bring up a genuinely immoral action that should not be criminal. She is probably thinking about her family’s well-being and yes, her own well-being. Taking your own well-being into consideration is called “selfish” by anti-choicers, but I think valuing yourself is a moral good, even if you are female. In fact, especially if you are female, since you live in a world where having self-esteem can be an act of moral courage that requires some defiance. If I got pregnant, I wouldn’t even have to suffer much mental strain to realize that abortion would be the best choice for myself, my family, and my relationship. Abortion, not just the right to abortion but the actual procedure, is a moral good that helps women and families and should be honored as such. Women who get abortions should be recognized as people who can accurately weigh their choices and make the most moral one.

Read the rest of her post here.

and at Filipovic, echoing Marcotte, adds

Abortion itself, though, can be a savior for women, and a positive choice. Abortion is a medical procedure and, like most medical procedures, is preempted by some sort of negative event. And yet the discourse around abortion is focused on how “tragic” it is. Is open-heart surgery “tragic”? Is an appendectomy “tragic”? Obviously the circumstances leading up to open-heart surgery and appendectomy are bad. But the procedures themselves, I would argue, are good responses to bad situations. As is abortion.

See her take on the issue here.

And if Filipovic echos Marcotte, I’d like to echo Filipovic to explain why there should be fewer abortions — within the stand that abortion is a moral good.

Just as few question whether a major medical procedure like heart surgery is a moral good, even fewer question the morality of root canals and ankle surgery.

Yet dentists argue we should brush, floss, and rinse our teeth so we won’t and podiatrists agree we should wear athletic shoes so we won’t sprain or break our ankles. They ground their arguments on not moral ones.

A root canal is an invasive procedure. So is ankle surgery. Surgery entails risks of primary injury or secondary infections. They’re painful and at least temporarily incapacitating. Having stood by with my partner while she had the standard surgical procedure for abortion (dilation and extraction) after miscarrying I’ve come about as close as a man can get to experiencing the procedure. It, um, hurt. Aftercare was time consuming. The list of (strictly medical) admonitions and “watch out for’s” for the next couple of weeks was lengthy.

Not as lengthy, I hasten to add, as the pain, risk, and aftercare of labor and delivery, which I’ve also witnessed with my partner. (For instance abortions rarely involve several feet of suture thread, a month of bed rest, or “she might need a transfusion.” Nor do they involve hospitalization for preeclampsia or emergency caesarians to forestall an impending stroke, as has happened to other pregnant friends.)

[Note: The increased risk of pregnancy-related illness, injury, and death is one of many excellent reason why banning abortion is less moral than protecting it. —fl]

But if abortions are not as risky as pregnancy, labor, and delivery, contraception to avoid pregnancy is even less risky, painful, expensive, and time-consuming than either of the above.

And that’s where I come down. Root canals, and ankle surgery, and abortions are unquestionable (and largely avoidable) moral goods.

Extended question: Nobody argues that dentistry should be avoided since abstaining from all starches and sweets (virtually) eliminates the need for toothbrushes and floss. And nobody argues that hiking boots or athletic shoes are problematic because ankle injuries can be avoided by abstaining from walking, hiking, running, or playing sports. So where do people get off saying we should avoid contraception just because one can avoid pregnancy (and, consequentially, abortion) by abstaining from sex?

Final point: Will oral hygiene ever completely eliminate root canals? No, no matter how much progress dentists, oral surgeons, and health teachers make we might need them less and less often but we’ll always need them. Will better footwear, playing surfaces, and improved coaching ever eliminate podiatrists? No, as technology improves we’ll need them less and less frequently but we’ll always need ankle surgery. And will safer, more effective, less expensive, more widely available, and easier to use contraceptives ever eliminate the need for abortions? No. Even though we’ll need them less and less often as contraception becomes more available and reliable there will always be a need for safe, legal, and it’s-a-moral-good-get-over-it abortions.

This is why I can consistently support abortion while working to make it less necessary.