# Pro choicers: What (if anything) is wrong with using abortion as a form of birth control? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601 "2012-08-15T20:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/1 "2012-08-15T20:27:55Z")
FTR, I am pro choice. I only posit this question as I have problems with it myself. So the obvious answer to the question is: Health or STDs dummy. I get that, but in this impossible hypothetical, I’d like to leave those two issues off the table. So what would be wrong if a woman had it in her mind: "Ya’ know what? Screw condoms, I don’t like the way that they feel. And birth control pills? Nah, they make me moody. And I damn sure aint get’n my tubes tied. I’m single and I’m gonna fuck like crazy. If I happen to get pregnant, I’ll just get an abortion. No big deal, it’s not like it’s a real human anyway." Do you see any moral issues with this? If so, what are they? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/2 "2012-08-15T20:41:16Z")
A fetus may not be a human being, but a clump of cells is still life. I think it’s a pretty careless attitude to take toward any life, however insignificant. To me it’s like people who smash bugs regardless of whether the bug is doing anything to them. Some people don’t think twice about squashing a life out of existence. I think this attitude toward living things can result in a kind of carelessness toward more sentient beings. People can become desensitized to the power and fragility of life. I’m not religious, but there seems to me to be something very powerful about this ability to create life and I don’t think it should be taken for granted. -Definitely pro choice but definitely not pro-abortion ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/3 "2012-08-15T20:46:08Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > So what would be wrong if a woman had it in her mind: "Ya’ know what? Screw condoms, I don’t like the way that they feel. And birth control pills? Nah, they make me moody. And I damn sure aint get’n my tubes tied. > > I’m single and I’m gonna fuck like crazy. If I happen to get pregnant, I’ll just get an abortion. No big deal, it’s not like it’s a real human anyway." > > Do you see any moral issues with this? No moral issues. It’s likely to be a lot more unpleasant, inconvenient and expensive than the alternatives however. > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > A fetus may not be a human being, but a clump of cells is still life. So is a tumor. Just because something is alive doesn’t make killing it wrong, or morally significant. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/4 "2012-08-15T20:56:02Z")
I’m just a guy but my understanding is that abortions are not done using unobtrusive magic. It is basically outpatient surgery and not something that is done lightly, or often, without possible health consequences. There are both moral and physical issues at stake. That is why I think the person on the spot is the one who needs to decide if an abortion is the right course. I think a person who uses abortion as birth control is an idiot and is doing harm to herself but I don’t have the abilty to tell someone’s motive by looking at them. Maybe it would be a good idea to require some kind of consoling for those who have more than x abortions. I don’t know a good value for x. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/5 "2012-08-15T20:57:51Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I’m just a guy but my understanding is that abortions are not done using unobtrusive magic. It is basically outpatient surgery and not something that is done lightly, or often, without possible health consequences. There are both moral and physical issues at stake. That is why I think the person on the spot is the one who needs to decide if an abortion is the right course. > > I think a person who uses abortion as birth control is an idiot and is doing harm to herself but I don’t have the abilty to tell someone’s motive by looking at them. Maybe it would be a good idea to require some kind of consoling for those who have more than x abortions. I don’t know a good value for x. I think you need to reread the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/6 "2012-08-15T21:04:27Z")
What everyone else said, and: This hypothetical lady would have been pregnant for up to six, seven weeks, right? Being pregnant is no small thing. A woman’s body and hormones get into overdrive, starting at conception, to prepare for the pregnancy. And most changes take weeks, maybe even months or longer to taper off, even after an abortion or miscarriage. So that is why am pro-choice, and say, like most of my fellow pro choicers, that abortions should be available, safe, and _rare_. Wrt to the OP though: a while ago, [pro-lifers made the argument that women who used a IUD, (hormonal or coppery) effectively had (very) early abortions every time](http://community.babycenter.com/post/a6166685/mirena_iud_considered_abortion). Because an IUD doesn’t prevent conception, only implantation. I must say, it is an unpleasant thought. I don’t like to dwell on it much. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/7 "2012-08-15T21:05:16Z")
I am pro-choice - the “wrong” thing about using abortion as birth control is that it is not a particularly pleasant experience. There may be some women who like that sort of thing - I would place that kind of person under a psychological disorder label - but for normal everyday women - not really a lot of fun. And of course as mentioned above - cost, time, chance of complications. A stitch in time saves nine and all that… why wouldn’t you just use the pill…or any other quite convenient method? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/8 "2012-08-15T21:07:58Z")
I guess to me it depends how advanced the pregnancy is. I don’t know how late I think abortion should be legal absent medical issues, but I definitely think there would be something wrong with repeatedly having late term abortions just because for some bizarre reason you want to (not that that happens). If someone plans to take the abortion pill every time she gets a positive pregnancy test when her period is a few days late, well…fine I guess. It wouldn’t necessarily be that outlandish of a strategy either. I _can_ get pregnant but my cycles are messed up and it doesn’t happen easily, so if I chose not to use birth control and knew I’d just have to have an abortion every once in a while…well, someone might make that choice under those circumstances. I wouldn’t though. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/9 "2012-08-15T21:08:35Z")
No moral issues for me, only costs to consider. I’m not only pro-choice but I’m pro-abortion, I don’t really care if people have more abortions ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/10 "2012-08-15T21:12:54Z")
No moral issues, but I am concerned about the health risks and risks to future fertility from scar tissue from surgical abortions. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/11 "2012-08-15T21:20:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > So is a tumor. Just because something is alive doesn’t make killing it wrong, or morally significant. Maybe not to you. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/12 "2012-08-15T21:24:08Z")
It’s like not having insurance, but, instead, paying the full price for any damages you might cause or incur. Yeah, it’s a “fix,” but it’s the most expensive fix! Why not just get the insurance, eh? Take the pill, use the latex thingummy, the spermicide cream, or get yerself snipped. Also, at a meta-level, why give ammunition to the side that wants to ban the procedure for everyone, for always, by using it in the manner they claim we all want to use it? It’s like when some nitwit shoots up a restaurant, and gun-rights organizations sigh heavily: another idiot imperiling our rights by acting irresponsibly. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/13 "2012-08-15T21:43:38Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > So what would be wrong if a woman had it in her mind: "Ya’ know what? Screw condoms, I don’t like the way that they feel. And birth control pills? Nah, they make me moody. And I damn sure aint get’n my tubes tied. > > I’m single and I’m gonna fuck like crazy. If I happen to get pregnant, I’ll just get an abortion. No big deal, it’s not like it’s a real human anyway." I think a more realistic example is a woman who can’t use the pill for health reasons, who has no insurance/can’t afford to get her tubes tied/is too young so doctors won’t do it, and whose partner won’t get a vasectomy/won’t wear a condom/the condom breaks. If that woman is unlucky enough to get pregnant, she may have several abortions over the course of her child-bearing years. I’d hope that she’d search for alternatives – seems like there are new birth control methods/devices all the time – but if abortion is the only option, I won’t judge her. The little slut in your OP isn’t immoral so much as she’s thoughtless and ignorant and taking unnecessary risks. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/14 "2012-08-15T22:43:12Z")
I personally know women who refuse to take birth control for ‘frivolous’ reasons (claims that it made her hair break off, or made her gain weight) and also dislike condoms. These women basically try to not get pregnant with luck, shaky timing and ‘pulling out’. They end up pregnant. More than once. I have no problem at all with their choice to have abortions. Birth control pills aren’t a problem for me. Easy to get, doesn’t cause any uncomfortable side effects…great. If regular birth control were a problem, I would have no problem getting abortions. As many as unnecessary, unless my doctor told me it was a problem. For the record, I am pro-choice in the sense that I don’t believe a fetus in the womb is a person. Took me a long time to decide that I think that, but I do. I know some pro-choice people are NOT convinced that the fetus isn’t a person, but they are pro choice anyway. I think that is bad-ass, and I totally get why they would be against multiple abortions that can be prevented with pills. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/15 "2012-08-15T22:55:45Z")
Point 1) Really expensive choice for birth control, but ok, sure. Point 2) Really bad for your system to do that multiple times (I’m talking surgical abortions, not the “oh Fuck Me” pill), but ok, sure. So, not so much morally wrong, or even wrong for individuals, as much as… highly unlikely to have been the best possible choice for that situation, and therefore not a preferred response. What does it matter? It isn’t like we know who’s had abortions, let alone why they had them. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/16 "2012-08-15T22:56:44Z")
No moral issues wrt the fetus itself. I would be angry that they’re tying up valuable healthcare resources, though. Especially if they utilized any form of reduced-cost or free service. Birth control is cheap, easy, effective, and doesn’t waste doctors’ time every time she gets unlucky. A widespread practice such as this might lead to increasing the price of abortions for _everybody_. And using up free services reduces the amount of free services available to low-income people who may need them just as much, if not more, than her. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/17 "2012-08-15T23:07:30Z")
There’s free or ‘reduced price’ abortions? I’m not kidding. I honestly didn’t know that. And I wouldn’t worry about ‘wasting the doctor’s time’. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/18 "2012-08-15T23:13:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > There’s free or ‘reduced price’ abortions? I’m not kidding. I honestly didn’t know that. And I wouldn’t worry about ‘wasting the doctor’s time’. Of course. In California, for instance, if someone qualifies for the Family Pact program on MediCAL (and there are lots of ways to do that: income, lack of insurance, blah blah), an abortion would be 100% free. FWIW, all birth control is free under Family Pact, so it’d be just as easy for our hypothetical woman to get a free IUD or free sterilization even. In California, at least. Literally almost every girl/woman I knew in high school and college used this program to get free birth control (and annual exams, UTI treatment, STD tests, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/19 "2012-08-15T23:18:41Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > There’s free or ‘reduced price’ abortions? I’m not kidding. I honestly didn’t know that. And I wouldn’t worry about ‘wasting the doctor’s time’. Medicaid covers it in some states, and a lot of places like Planned Parenthood charge on a sliding scale. So it would be a waste of resources, but then, who doesn’t risk wasting healthcare resources by making choices like smoking, drinking, being overweight, tanning, etc.? A bunch of abortions still isn’t going to use near the resources of treating lung cancer or something, I wouldn’t think. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601/20 "2012-08-15T23:26:49Z")
I see. Thanks. I adjust my answer then. If a woman is paying for her own abortion, I will mind my business about how many she gets. If it turns out she is on Medicaid and is getting it footed, I probably will still mind my biz, but I wouldn’t have the gall to tell others to mind theirs’. (ETA: I can’t resist adding that I wasn’t so clueless as to think birth control and things like that weren’t covered by certain programs. It is the abortion being covered that surprised me.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choicers-what-if-anything-is-wrong-with-using-abortion-as-a-form-of-birth-control/631601.md?page=2)