# Single ladies, if abortion were made illegal, would you think twice before you had sex? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163 "2009-10-26T11:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/1 "2009-10-26T11:31:13Z")
Forget the pro-choice pro-life argument. Let’s say by some fluke of politics the law allowing for abortions was overturned and abortions were again made illegal. Would you be less likely to go to bed with guys? Would you be more selective about the men you slept with? Or would you just assume that you wouldn’t be one of the [3 out of 100](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=537377) women getting pregnant? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/2 "2009-10-26T11:35:17Z")
This only applies to single ladies? ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/3 "2009-10-26T11:35:43Z")
I would think about fifty times before having PIV sex, and would be extremely unlikely to do it at all. Me and any partner of mine would have a lot of oral and manual adventures. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/4 "2009-10-26T11:49:40Z")
> [@Miss\_Violaceous](#): > > This only applies to single ladies? Well, barring a swinger lifestyle or infidelity, if you are married it’s pretty much assumed that you are generally having sex with only one man. Partner selection doesn’t play a role in your decision to have sex. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/5 "2009-10-26T11:52:42Z")
But surely the concern is unwanted pregnancy, which can happen when you’re married, too. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/6 "2009-10-26T11:53:51Z")
But would you stop having sex if you are married? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/7 "2009-10-26T11:57:14Z")
> [@SmartAlx](#): > > But would you stop having sex if you are married? Well–never mind. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/8 "2009-10-26T11:58:28Z")
> [@SmartAlx](#): > > Well, barring a swinger lifestyle or infidelity, if you are married it’s pretty much assumed that you are generally having sex with only one man. Partner selection doesn’t play a role in your decision to have sex. So what? Sleeping with one man can get you pregnant just as easily as sleeping with a lot of men can. I’m a married lady, not a single lady, and my husband has had a vasectomy. However, if he hadn’t, I think we would just go to using two types of birth control (Pill for me, condoms for him) and maybe throwing in NFP and avoiding sex during my fertile times, as well. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/9 "2009-10-26T12:04:50Z")
> [@SmartAlx](#): > > But would you stop having sex if you are married? If abortions were made illegal? Yes, I would probably stop having PIV sex with my husband. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/10 "2009-10-26T12:05:19Z")
I always “think twice” before having sex and would not have an abortion anyway, so whether abortions are legal or not is irrelevant in my case. I support legal and free reproductive care, including and not limited to abortions. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/11 "2009-10-26T12:07:12Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > So what? Sleeping with one man can get you pregnant just as easily as sleeping with a lot of men can. > > I’m a married lady, not a single lady, and my husband has had a vasectomy. However, if he hadn’t, I think we would just go to using two types of birth control (Pill for me, condoms for him) and maybe throwing in NFP and avoiding sex during my fertile times, as well. I think the two populations are far too different to intermingle them in this poll. Married ladies I wonder are less likely to stop having sex. That’s why I’m asking this poll. They will at best do what you mentioned and possibly get sterilized. Single people generally don’t get sterilized and even combining contraceptives isn’t 100% effective. If you insist I can create a seperate poll for married women too. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/12 "2009-10-26T12:10:27Z")
Or widen this one: married, I’d be more careful single, I’d be more careful etc ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SmartAlx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/13 "2009-10-26T12:11:56Z")
I would if I could, but I don’t have the capability. Sorry about that. This is what happens when you throw a poll up in a minute. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/14 "2009-10-26T13:30:03Z")
I’m not 100% sure I understand what you’re trying to get at. I parsed the question as asking whether or not a woman would think twice before any given act of intercourse, regardless of partner selection. But your comment about partner selection makes me wonder if you’re really asking whether the availability of abortion would make women more choosy about who they slept with. Those are two totally different questions with totally different implications, so clarification would be helpful. As a data point totally irrelevant to your current poll, I’m married and I _would_ pretty much stop having sex if there were nothing I could do about being one of the miserably unlucky 3 out of 1000 who got pregnant using my current method of birth control. Even sterilization, if I could find a doctor willing to do it since I’m under 35 and haven’t popped any out yet, wouldn’t set my mind at ease because it’s actually marginally _less_ effective than what we have now. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/15 "2009-10-26T13:30:47Z")
> [@SmartAlx](#): > > I think the two populations are far too different to intermingle them in this poll. Married ladies I wonder are less likely to stop having sex. That’s why I’m asking this poll. They will at best do what you mentioned and possibly get sterilized. Single people generally don’t get sterilized and even combining contraceptives isn’t 100% effective. > > If you insist I can create a seperate poll for married women too. Have you tried to get sterilized? It’s not easy, especially for women who don’t have a certain number of children and/or are not a certain age. As for me, I was married when I got pregnant three times in three years, each time with my husband, and each time using birth control. I DID stop having sex, completely, not just penis in vagina sex, but all sex. I was able to get sterilized after a couple of years of this, but it took several psychological evaluations, with the shrinks saying that I did have a fear of pregnancy, and also I had to have medical doctors attesting to the fact that another pregnancy would put my health at risk. It’s not just single women who want and need abortions. Married women want them and need them too, even if they’re monogamous. I know that I’m not alone in my experiences. I was an abortion escort for a while, and a lot of the women I escorted were married. The two populations are NOT that different, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/16 "2009-10-26T13:56:51Z")
Yes, I’m not sure what the difference is supposed to be between married women who don’t want to get pregnant and single women who don’t want to get pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Sebastienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Sebastienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sebastienne)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/17 "2009-10-26T14:44:08Z")
I’ve talked to a good number of women who had or were planning to have an abortion; many were married. Many were married and already had children, but thought adding another would be disastrous to their family. Were modern medically-performed abortion outside of my ability to readily procure (I wouldn’t give a damn about legalities if I had the means to easily obtain one in Canada or Mexico) I would almost certainly give up PIV sex. (I mostly date women anyway.) This would not change even were I to get married. I would however continue having sex with as many partners as I currently do, including other forms of penetrative intercourse. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/18 "2009-10-26T14:51:24Z")
Depends. Is it ‘illegal’ as in ‘Don’t worry. If you’ve got a few bucks we’ll mail you RU486 or you can take a bus to Canada, no questions asked’ illegal (which is not that far a cry from what many American women have today, with a dearth of actual abortion clinics)? Or is it illegal as in ‘We’re watching you, you sluts, and next we’re coming for your birth control’ illegal? Because you’d better believe the same people who want to make it illegal won’t be stopping there, and will surely have a lovely bunch of other laws and amendments making it great to be a woman alive today (maybe the miscarriage police?). In that case, I’d encourage all women to abstain from sex completely, Lysistrata style. Or only have sex abroad in progressive countries like Sweden or the UK. No one feels sexy being a second-class citizen. Of course, I’d love to see what rape laws and statistics look like in a country where rape victims who have been inseminated are forced to carry to term. And, again, if it’s going to reflect the current situation – with poor women having more abortions as a result of more unwanted pregnancies and less access to affordable reproductive care – what a lovely world it will be. WOnder who the pro-lifers will blame it on when all those fetuses don’t pop out pure white and wearing angel wings? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/19 "2009-10-26T14:52:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I always “think twice” before having sex and would not have an abortion anyway, so whether abortions are legal or not is irrelevant in my case. > > I support legal and free reproductive care, including and not limited to abortions. She said exactly what I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163/20 "2009-10-26T15:00:09Z")
A girlfriend I had back in the mid-late 1970s once told me that, if not for Roe v. Wade, there’s no way she’d ever have let me touch her. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-ladies-if-abortion-were-made-illegal-would-you-think-twice-before-you-had-sex/515163.md?page=2)