The London Telegraph reports that more women — and older women — are having abortions due to financial concerns.
Ann Furedi, the chief executive of the BPAS, formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “Financial circumstances often play a role in women’s decision-making when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.
“Against the backdrop of a recession, it is not surprising that some doctors are reporting an increase in the number of women considering abortion because of their financial predicament.
“At a national level, the rate of abortion for the under-25s has fallen and that for the older age groups has increased. The survey results reflect this trend.
“Ultimately, motherhood is something we take extremely seriously, and many women want to wait until their circumstances are right.
“Women need abortion as a back-up for when contraception fails so they can ensure the timing and size of their families is what is right for them and their own personal circumstances.”
Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks gestation. Last year, 189,931 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, a similar number to the year before.
A civil society that truly takes motherhood seriously will make certain that supports exist so that a mother does not have to choose her own life over her child’s. That she is not tempted to do so. That she does not feel required or expected to do so.
As Lauren Petron, a volunteer with the Catholic Voices project I’ve mentioned here, put it in the New York Times this weekend: “It is in all our interests to cultivate a society that celebrates motherhood and makes the choice to say yes to life plausible for women who find themselves in difficult circumstances.”
When he arrived in New York, Cardinal Dolan, of whom you’ve heard, stood with ecumenical leaders renewing the promise that any mother who needs help will get it from the Catholic Church in New York. He did that staring New York’s shocking 41-percent abortion rate (higher for black and Hispanic women) in the face. This, too, is the work of crisis-pregnancy centers and homes across our country. Some of these charities, of course, will be facing fines because they can’t in good conscience provide the abortion-inducing drug, sterilization, and contraception coverage the federal government is mandating they offer employees. It’s all an outrage. It’s also fundamentally sad. Because it is all so unnecessary. And yet here we are. And yet we are resorting to miserable solutions to challenges, miserable solutions that double down on misery.