During the Planned Parenthood trials, Congressman Jason Chaffertz, R-Utah, pointed to an incorrectly labeled graph and stated that the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood had increased between 2006 and 2013.
This was later proved to be untrue, but its false information fed a deep fear in many conservatives that the number of abortions in the United States is increasing.
And this is a valid concern. I do not know anyone, pro-life or pro-choice, excited about high abortion rates.
However, there are more effective ways to lower the number of abortions than creating increasingly strict rules that make abortions virtually impossible to receive.
More effective ways include providing an easy access to birth control and sexual education for teenagers.
Disregarding the fact that fewer women are getting abortions in the U.S. than the 1990s, abortion rates are still too high for many politicians.
The best way to combat this does not begin with healthcare legislation, but rather educational legislation.
By teaching comprehensive sexual education in high school, abortions can be avoided, as is becoming the case in Hawaii.
In 2013, Hawaii was 10th in the nation for teen pregnancies. The Executive director of Hawaii’s Youth Services Network Judith Clark said that beginning in 2010, students were taught sexual education that was based on evidence.
In addition to this openness in the high school, Hawaii also made emergency contraception easier for teenagers to receive.
The results were profound, a decrease of 30 percent in abortion rates by 2014.
Correlation is not causation, though.
These results could have been confounded by other variables. Research should answer these questions.
Washington University School of Medicine, the top medical school in the country by US News, found providing free birth control reduced unplanned pregnancies and abortions.
Washington University found that when low-cost birth control was provided to women, the abortion rates decreased between 62 and 78 percent.
Lower abortion rates is a goal that the government should move towards, however, the way to go about it is to educate the public, not take away their abilities to make choices.
It can start in high school.
Teaching teenagers safe sex practices is a way to lower teen pregnancy rates.
It does not promote kids to have sex, no more than the media already does.
After school, it is about making sure than every women has the ability to access cheap, effective birth control in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies from happening.
Honestly, people will have sex. We should be giving them safe ways to do so.
npatwari@indiana.edu
