Are Women Who Choose Abortion Victims or Perpetrators?
Recently on social media, a nurse shared her firsthand experience with a woman who had taken abortion pills she had obtained by mail.
The young woman, unaware of how far along she was, brought her 12–14-week-old baby into the emergency room screaming, “What have I done?” The young patient was not prepared to see a fully formed, but small, baby. She had been deceived by the “clump of cells” narrative.
Her story points to a question dividing the pro-life movement: Are women fully culpable moral agents in their abortion decisions, or are they “second victims” of abortion due to decades of cultural messaging that has fundamentally changed how they perceive pregnancy and abortion?
In the post-Dobbs era, how we ultimately answer this question will have a major impact on our approach to public policy.
The Divide
The danger lies in putting all women into a monolith. There are women who have been coerced, but there are also women who publicly celebrate their abortions. There are women, like those in the opening story, who understand what abortion is but who have believed decades of messaging about abortion that tells them that their baby isn’t really a baby yet. Many such women understand that they are ending a life, but they simply do not perceive that life to have the same moral worth as a child outside the womb.
The truth is that we cannot speak about women and their choices in such simplistic terms, especially when considering the factors that led to a culture in which a majority of Americans find abortion to be a morally permissible, or even preferable, option.
And while future pro-life policy should take into account the cultural and psychological realities influencing women’s decisions, we must also recognize that it will take time to counteract the narratives that have radically changed how entire generations of women perceive pregnancy and abortion.
Understanding Women Who Choose Abortion
Research from Vitae Foundation — where I work — is unique in the perspective it offers. For over 30 years, Vitae has researched the psychological and emotional dynamics in abortion decision-making, providing a window into how women think and feel when facing an unexpected pregnancy and considering abortion.
One of the most significant findings is that women view themselves as choosing from among three perceived “evils” — abortion, adoption, or parenting.
To the woman facing an unexpected pregnancy, each of the three options represents a literal or psychological death.
Though abortion is death in its literal form, women often perceive continuing the pregnancy as their own psychological death. Their sense of identity is disrupted so profoundly that continuing the pregnancy is perceived as a threat to their current and future selves.
While adoption might seem like the obvious solution, women who do not want to become mothers rarely entertain that option, as they must carry the child to term only to relinquish him or her through adoption. Many women report the uncertainty surrounding the child’s quality of life as a deciding factor, as they perceive abortion as the more merciful alternative to bringing a child into the world only to suffer.
Some women are so radically unprepared for motherhood and the transformation it entails that they perceive the pregnancy as an assault on the self. As a result, many women who choose abortion do so out of a perceived sense of self-preservation.
In that moment, legal penalties for obtaining an abortion are less of a tangible reality than the crisis she is experiencing — a crisis which, to her, is already an existential threat.
Part of this deliberation is taking stock of her circumstances and the factors that influence most abortion decisions. She considers the support or lack thereof from the father, her financial situation, and her career or education.
These circumstantial factors play a major role in abortion decision-making, becoming the rationalization or justification for choosing abortion.
Many women do experience overwhelming internal conflict with abortion even as they choose it. They try to resolve it through rationalizations formed by the prevailing narratives about fetal development — “it’s just a clump of cells” — or their circumstances.
It would be a mistake to discount the degree to which decades of cultural messaging about abortion continue to condition women to believe that any circumstantial challenge is a legitimate reason for obtaining an abortion.
Our culture increasingly suggests that it is irresponsible to choose life when faced with obstacles, implicitly communicating to women that they should choose abortion in anything less than ideal circumstances. Fueled by a sense of urgency, women within this permissive cultural context make the decision based on fear rather than morality.
She faces an impossible choice: ending the new and unknown life inside her, or ending the life she has always known.
In a world where motherhood is now entirely optional, many women struggle to contend with an alternate version of themselves they have never envisioned.
Understanding Without Excusing
It is important here to make the distinction that understanding the underlying reasons for a decision is not the same as excusing that decision. So are women who choose abortion victims? The answer is both yes and no.
They are victims, in a sense, of a culture that has downplayed what abortion is and convinced them that it is the appropriate choice in their circumstances.
However, women do possess agency, and they are still ultimately responsible for their actions.
Holding both truths in tension is key to resisting overly simplistic answers. Lasting change will require countering the cultural narratives that continue to have such a powerful impact on women’s decisions.
The young woman in the emergency room screaming, “What have I done?” had believed a lie. In order to truly protect the unborn and prevent more women from that same fate, it is imperative that we confront the beliefs that make abortion seem necessary in the first place.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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