Healthcare Prof:
All politicians “say they want to make abortion at least rare,” but politics “precludes” them from creating campaigns that would reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, which could be the “key” to reducing abortions, Atul Gawande — a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and staff writer for the New Yorker — writes in a New York Times opinion piece.
Reducing unintended pregnancies “requires getting specific about two subjects that are perilous in politics: sex and contraception,” Gawande writes. Based on Gawande, men and women need to know that “close” relationships between parents and their teenage children can reduce unintended pregnancies; that abortion “is mainly an adult problem”; that adults are often “not using contraception properly”; and that self-education on the issue is important.
According to Gawande, an “effective national campaign” to reduce unintended pregnancies would provide “details — on television on billboards — and actively use what evidence shows works best,” but there is “not going to be such a campaign anytime soon.” The 1.3 million abortions within the U.S. annually make it “clear” that politicians “haven’t been serious” about reducing the number of procedures, Gawande writes, concluding that individuals “just have to comprehend: the effort is strictly do-it-yourself” (Gawande, New York Times, 5/19).
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