That will cost a lot of money. And it’s about more than money: it’s about time. People don’t want to have the burden of a time commitment for another person. You can’t just throw money at the problem, unless you’re advocating government-run foster homes. And even then, you have to deal with the months of being pregnant. MANY PEOPLE DO NOT WANT THIS.

This is a fantastic article. In the end, getting pregnant is hard on women (and men). Getting an abortion is hard, just like going through with the pregnancy is hard. We need to care about people, like Anna advocates, both the child and the mother. As fellow humans our compassion must lie with finding the best solution for all involved, and helping those we love with whatever choices they make. Pro-choice necessitates that both choices are given an equal likelihood of success. Right now, like Anna points out, that is not the case.

If we have learned anything it is that the government and the lawmakers are not the answer to anything other than guaranteeing and protecting our rights. They aren’t doing that now, they are trampling all over our individual rights. They can’t or won’t do what they are supposed to do and do all sorts of things that they aren’t authorized to do, so adding another where “they” take care of “us” can not be what “we” need.

While I generally agree with what this article says, I feel like the author left out one important component of the solutions: We need to have better sex education in this country to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Getting pregnant, even without use of the pill, is something that can largely be prevented. There is a huge array of contraceptive options for women looking not to get pregnant, but most people do not learn about these until well after they are sexually active, if they learn about them at all.

sorry if any of my comment is incoherent, I’m sleep deprived like everyone else on campus (midterms are the worst), and I’m tired of proofreading.

Anna, while I applaud you for recently becoming slightly less militant and more willing to have conversations and suggest compromise with people who disagree with you, you just really aren’t saying much here. I think that most decent Americans would like to create an environment of support where no one feels trapped in their circumstances, but you don’t provide us with any real ideas of how to do this. How do you propose we go about improving healthcare, welfare, and social support systems? You seem to be oblivious to the current state of reproductive rights and healthcare access in this country. The government continually puts up roadblocks to birth control access, important sexual health information and education, and vital healthcare availability for women of middle to lower socioeconomic class (especially non-white women). If you propose and support all of these reforms, you should give us some actual, plausible ideas about how to do them (and you’ll need to vote for legislators who would be willing to enact and support these reforms). Also, what programs do you propose the government cut in order to find the money for your reforms? I think you should spend some more time thinking about your ideas and try to flesh them out with some reasonable proposals.

planned parenthood provides affordable healthcare and social support…it would help to stop taking away their funding…

@winkywanky, she didn’t write specifically about those other things because thats not what this article was about. are you looking for a book or a opinion piece?

I cannot accept the author’s assumption that every woman who seeks abortion does so (or only should do so) due to crippling circumstances. Eliminating these circumstances does not necessarily eliminate all possible reason to choose abortion.

In order to “make abortion unnecessary” via eliminating extenuating circumstances, we need to end poverty, provide universal access to medical care, demand nationwide quality health education, develop 100%-effective contraception, eliminate ectopic pregnancies and other complications, and convince conservatives to help fund all of this…. and then we can actually reach the common ground that the author suggests. But until then, we’re just imagining what common ground would look like, not “finding” it.

And what should women do in the meantime while we’re restructuring domestic spending in order to pay for all of this?

I agree with the above comments as you failed to really say anything….

I found it odd that you didn’t mention anything about improved access to birth control. This is a feasible, and easy step in the right direction. Currently the government is making it quite hard to access birth control and the morning after pill. Fix that and you would have a lot less unwanted pregnancies and then less abortions like your little heart so desires.

I have a feeling this omission is due to your misguided belief in Catholicism. Maybe if you and the rest of America re-evaluated their religious beliefs we could actually start helping women and providing the necessary healthcare. Maybe.

@anon 14

I’m looking for an opinion piece that’s not completely devoid of substance.

“misguided belief in Catholicism”

What an ugly statement that can only be borne out of insecurity with one’s own belief structure. If you are really an ‘11, then it is painfully clear that with a Dartmouth degree does not come wisdom or grace.

@anon ‘11, I have a feeling your idiotic attack is due to your misguided anti-Catholic prejudice. Maybe if you and the rest of the secularist police re-evaluated your narrow view of the world, we could start finding some common ground as Anna suggests (between people who support and oppose abortion, and same with birth control).

Anna, I’m glad that you’ve taken such an even-keeled approach to a topic I know you are very passionate about. I definitely agree that the number of abortions in the US could be decreased through any of the services you mentioned. I believe you’re saying that, as it stands today, there really is no choice for women who are unable to support but actually want a child.

But I think what underlies your argument is that, in the end, abortion should disappear. I disagree. Even if you provide services like “health care, welfare and social support systems,” there will still be women who do not want and will never want children. Some women who get abortions are not just reacting to their inability to care for a child financially or emotionally… they just don’t want a child. How does “an end to abortion” support these women? Abortion always needs to be an easily accessible and safe option, regardless of whether or not women who want children are supported with services. Otherwise you’re still leaving some women without a choice.

Considering the author is an international student, I think she has a pretty admirable understanding of American politics and how to overcome the current deadlock resulting from our bipartisan system. To criticize her for “lacking substance” is to a) miss her point entirely and b) betray the narrow-minded worldview Americans are often criticized for by the rest of the world. At least she’s trying to see a way forward. Divisive, puerile attacks such as those above just prove her point.

@anon ‘11 and others who say it’s wrong to crtiticize the column for “lacking substance” or whatever, that is totally unreasonable. isn’t the point of op-eds to generate dialogue? and the idea that because anna is an international student we should simply applaud is absurd. knowing her, i’m sure she can and will hold her own in any discussion, american politics or otherwise, so don’t patronize her abilities by suggesting people keep their responses to themselves. i’d even argue that it’s quite offensive to anna to say that people are wrong for offering critiques, especially if these critiques are not mean spirited but rather specific (eg van melikian’s and winkywanky '11s). ps- the “misguided catholism” comment is asinie and not worth thinking about, so let’s not waste time on it.

all in all, kudos to anna for her steps to move dialogue on abortion forward. let’s not sabotoge this worthy goal by hating on suggestions for how her argument could be advanced, fleshed out, and made stronger.