Many women regret abortions

The argument

Proponents of this position argue that what women report afterwards is evidence about the nature of the act itself. Women, on this account, frequently cite feelings of regret over their decision to abort, and some describe extensive and lasting psychological distress connected to it. The argument treats those reports as data rather than as private misfortune: if a choice reliably produces that reaction in those who make it, something about the choice is being registered. The comparison that carries the argument is with the opposite decision. Very few women who continue a pregnancy, proponents contend, express regret at having given birth; the reported reaction runs the other way, towards relief that the pregnancy was not ended. The asymmetry is held to matter because both groups faced the same decision under comparable pressures, and both had to live with what they chose. If the two outcomes were morally equivalent, one would expect the subsequent experience to be roughly symmetrical too. That it is not, on this reading, indicates that one of the options involves a loss the other does not. From that asymmetry the argument draws a conclusion about law rather than only about individual choice. A legal framework that presents abortion as a routine and consequence-free option is, on this view, misinforming the women who rely on it — offering as neutral a decision that those who make it often come to regard as having harmed them. Proponents argue that the state's role is not to facilitate a choice whose aftermath is so frequently painful but to protect women from it, and to protect the unborn child at the same time. The claim is therefore that legality and harm are connected. If abortion is regretted at the rate proponents describe while childbirth is not, then legal abortion is producing suffering that prohibition would prevent.

Context

Many women who go through abortions, particularly those that go through them at a young age, later express severe regret over the decisions they made.

Premises

Counter-arguments

If you actually look at the numbers, rather than anecdotal evidence, you see a clearer picture. The overwhelming majority of women who have an abortion do not regret it later in life. A recent poll found 95% of women do not regret their decision. Even if they did, it is not sufficient criteria to outlaw the practice entirely. Many people regret taking up smoking or dropping out of university, but neither of these are prohibited.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The majority of women actually do not regret their decision, many actually express relief. [Rejecting P2] Even if they did, mothers expressing feelings of remorse is not sufficient to outlaw something.