I am a volunteer escort at an abortion clinic. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. I was a pregnant 17 year old without consistent access to birth control who never considered anything other than keeping my baby, who went to Planned Parenthood and found out how to apply for Medicaid. I have voted pro-choice, but I have never been very vocal about it. I'm vocal now. The reason is because just over a year ago, I saw video and photos of hundreds of men, standing outside of this clinic, screaming at women and telling them what horrible people they were while they were trying to access healthcare services. (Only one of these groups was behaving one hundred percent within the bounds of the law, by the way). Every single day, some part of this group returns, and harasses women, their escorts, their companions, and the medical providers at this clinic. They do not make a dent in the number of women who have already made their decision. I am not going to write about their tactics-that is another article for another time. Although I try to ignore them, what really frustrates me is that their stated purpose is to end abortion, but what they are really doing is ending access to safe abortion.

When I approach a problem that I really want to change, I take a good look at what is causing the problem. (I am using the word "problem" here because this article is targeted to pro-life readers). What is the goal? Fewer abortions. In order to do so, first, you must accept some things as non-negotiables:

1. YOU can not control who and when people have sex with, other than yourself.
2. You will NEVER win the war when it comes to convincing people your religious beliefs are the only correct ones, and that others are wrong.
3. Our country was founded as a safe haven from persecution for our religious differences, and it is imperative that we maintain that separation from our laws-you might be on the winning team today, but if you are outnumbered tomorrow, and if you have allowed the precedent to be set in that the ruling religious denomination gets to make our laws, it will not end well.
4. You cannot effectively legislate morality. Humans will always find a work around, and the solutions will most likely be worse than what you thought the problem was in the first place. See prohibition or the war on drugs.

So, back to how I approach problem solving and thinking about public policy and legislation. If there is a problem, I seek to find out the source of the problem. So, looking at abortion, why do people have abortion?

1. They can't afford it.
2. They do not want to be a single mother.
3. A desire not to have any additional children.
4. Maternal or fetal health concerns.

It is interesting to note that most women cite more than one reason.

https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/pubs/psrh/full/3711005.pdf

Economics

There is a gender pay gap, a racial pay gap, and our country is one of the only in the developed (under-developed world, too) that does not provide paid maternal leave for women. Many women work hourly retail and service industry jobs that provide no PTO, and they get scheduled in such a way that their hours are kept below the threshold that would require health insurance. 

Policies that would address these issues: increased minimum wage, tied to inflation (several states do not even have a minimum wage). Ending the gender and racial disparities in wages (Here is a piece of legislation that attempted to do that and was defeated;https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/brochure-equal_pay_and_ledbetter_act.cfm) Push for a federal (paid) family leave act and subsidized childcare. How many of you called and wrote your representatives in Washington this fall when they let CHIP lapse? They used it as a bargaining chip this past week, but this happened in the fall. Universal healthcare that is not tied to employment ensures that every man, woman, and child receives preventative, prenatal, and emergent healthcare at any time, without deductibles, copays, and bankruptcies. My friends in other countries honestly cannot believe that Americans are in bankruptcy over healthcare.

https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/ 

They don't want to be a single mother.

Again, this is not a discussion about your morality. This is a discussion about public policy. Being pragmatic. To kick this off, let me make sure that you understand that marijuana use is even among white and black young men. What is not even is the rates at which it is prosecuted, and the rates at which the mandatory minimums are applied to black offenders but not white offenders.  "Single motherhood" is not an issue of moral turpitude of women. It is an issue of a systemic attack of communities of color by our government (the CIA has literally admitted as much and documents have been released showing their role in supplying urban areas with crack and marijuana.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/archive/gunsdrugscia.html) We have lawmakers and judges with financial interests in the for profit prison industries, and you should do some reading on how those contracts with states are written. Our government manufactured the war on drugs, and did it to manipulate you. Keeps us focused on racial divisions, rather than the wealth inequalities that continue to spiral out of control. Major criminal justice system reforms would change the character of our communities and strengthen families.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michelle-alexander-a-system-of-racial-and-social-control/

Related to this is just the need to have comprehensive sex education in our schools. You can tell your children whatever you want and shelter them all you desire, but this is about public policy and the best way to cut down on the number of abortions is to cut down on the number of unplanned pregnancies. If you think telling teenagers about abstinence only is an effective method, you are grossly misinformed. My daughters were both on the pill for endometriosis, but they would have been anyway. I know what it is to be a pregnant teenager. When one of them had a really strong antibiotic, I stuck a post it note on the pill container that said-"This will interfere with your pill. Use a condom." My kids weren't drinkers. But, for as long as I remember, they knew they could call me to pick them up if they needed a safe ride home. Some things are more important than what the gossips will talk about at church. Comprehensive sex education that shows kids every single option out there for how to protect themselves is critical. Sex education that teaches about consent and that males are every bit as responsible for any sexual encounter as the females is vital. A lot of women get in situations that they want out of, but they have been taught to be submissive, or that their voice isn't important. If you personally think this is all wrong, then talk to your kid about it when they get home, but don't keep other people from learning how to prevent unplanned pregnancies. And, just so you know, the church goers show up at the clinics, too.

A desire not to have any other children

The age group with the highest percentage of unplanned pregnancies that end in abortions are women over 40.  Perhaps there are better birth control methods/education/access out there for this group.

Maternal and/or Fetal Health Issues

I think what needs to be said here is that so many TRAP laws are not taking into account that a lot of these issues get diagnosed fairly late in pregnancy, and these laws that keep banning abortion earlier and earlier are causing families to go through hell at an already terrible time in their lives. Families are having to fly across country, to another state, because the scan that confirms the lack of viability doesn't come back until past the cut off in their state, and now they have to go through this without their support system nearby. There are women who already have a family who are told they will not survive their current pregnancy. 

But, the reality is, no woman has to justify why she is having an abortion. It's legal. 

We'd all be better served by less sidewalk harassment, and more work to enact policies that would result in better conditions for women and children-economically, educationally, and medically.  Shutting down clinics will not result in fewer abortions. It will result in fewer safe abortions. And you can't claim to be pro-life if you don't care about dead mothers. If you are really interested in addressing the issue, set the emotional rhetoric aside, and look at things pragmatically. And plan how to get there.