Debunking Abortion: Safe, Legal and Rare

In 1993, the phrase “safe, legal and rare” became a slogan for what was presented as a reasonable, common-sense compromise in order to maintain legalized abortions while recognizing that it shouldn’t be the first response to an unplanned pregnancy. Now, fast forward a few decades and the “safe, legal and rare” slogan has been all but buried by pro-choice advocates in favor of a much more in-your-face shouts for abortion on demand. As drastic as this shift may seem, the specter of the “safe, legal and rare” still appears in the shadows of many modern pro-choice arguments when the issue is pressed, even as the push to “destigmatize” abortion gets louder and louder. So, why the change from seeking to be seen as reasonable to loud and proud and why does this this apparently outdated slogan keep getting redressed and brought back out when it’s convenient?

At first glance, the “Safe, legal and rare” seems like it is reasonable and trying to find a middle ground. It seemed obvious why abortion needed to be safe and legal – if abortion is outlawed, women will be forced to go back to the back-alley abortionists or self-administered “coat-hanger abortions.” The termination of the fetus should be carried out by a trained and licensed medical professional who can give the mother the proper medical care that she would need. The truth is, however, that for every successful abortion, 50% of the patients die. That might sound like a shocking statistic, but isn’t that the intended goal of an abortion procedure? To end the life of the child. So, if everything goes perfectly, exactly as it is supposed to happen in this clinical procedure, it results in death. This statement, of course, brings up all of the rebuttals about “when life begins” and “what constitutes personhood.” Genetically, the baby is unique from the mother from the point of conception, so they are not a part of her. If personhood is predicated on self-awareness or consciousness, then what does that say about patients in medically induced comas or even just people who are asleep? We’re not going to tackle all of the objections right now, but that should give a brief glimpse at what we are talking about. If America’s first goal regarding abortion, as stated by President Bill Clinton, is that it should be safe; well, when half of the patients that enter the procedure are being drugged, crushed, and ripped limb from limb, that doesn’t exactly sound safe to me.

Then, there’s the question of legality. We all know that legality does not mean morally justified. The Nuremberg trials after WWII were carried out on the basis of the universal understanding and responsibility to an objective moral standard which precludes us from crossing certain lines in the treatment of our fellow man, even in times of war. Just because your commanders ordered you to do something does not give you the freedom to do it when the order violates basic and universal human rights. Slavery in the moder era and recent history are another example of legalized violations of human rights. How many of us have thought to ourselves, in reading about these atrocities of the past generations, that we would have stood against such clear evils or that we would have never sided with such clear monstrosities? There were roughly 6,000,000 jews murdered simply for being born Jewish during the holocaust. It is estimated that there are still between 21-45 million slaves in the world today. Since RoeVWade, there have now been nearly 65 million infants killed by abortion in the U.S. alone. Over 10 times the number of Jews murdered as part of Hitler’s Final Solution and what’s even more horrible is that, at one time every one of these acts was completely legal and defended, at times to the death, by their ardent supporters. We all know that laws don’t make something morally right or wrong and we mourn when injustice reigns in our lives. For many today, we have become so blind to true justice that we believe we are the victims when we are told we aren’t going to be allowed to kill our own children. But hey, right now in many states, it’s completely legal.

And now we come to “rare.” This is the part that has caused the once popular slogan to completely fall out of favor with the modern pro-choice movement because in admitting that America’s goal should be to make abortions rare, he was ultimately admitting that there is inherently something wrong in it. Think about it, if something is already safe and legal, then why should it be rare? In what other situation would that thinking even make sense? It is clear that abortion is not only a sin in certain religious groups, but the natural law written on the hearts of mankind convicts each one of us, at least in the beginning, of how wrong this practice is. Let’s not mince words; Abortion is infanticide. The reason that the pro-choice side has left the “safe, legal and rare” slogan in the dust is because it exposed a weakness in the whole movement; we all know that abortion is wrong.

Now, this is where it gets even more interesting – even though they have largely and publicly abandoned the “safe, legal and rare” argument, pro-choicers today will still slip it back into their talking points. The back-alley abortionist and the coat hanger are still the boogeymen of what is right around the corner if abortion is ever fully banned in the U.S., of course. But, what about the rare? Surely, they wouldn’t bring that admission of guilt back into the light. Well, even today, the most consistent defense of abortion is in the form of pulling the heartstrings with the extreme situations of sexual assaul and incest. Of course, without exception, these are tragic and heart wrenching instances. That is exactly the reason that so many on the pro-choice side will go straight to those instances validating why abortion should be accessible to all. The logic doesn’t follow, though. According to the Guttmacher Institute, those situations account for less than 2% of all abortions carried out in the U.S. and, in fact, another study shows that nearly 85% of women in those situations choose to carry their babies to term. And yet, these truly rare instances are used to kick the door wide open for virtually every abortion that takes place being for completely different reasons. They will loudly demand abortion access on demand as a right and when pressed, they will shield themselves from intellectual scrutiny by taking advantage of women in one of the most difficult situations imaginable in order to score political points. But, as 85% of those exact women recognize, one horribly sinful act does not justify or condone another. So, should abortion be safe, legal and rare? No. Abortion should be abolished like slavery and left for good.