Written by Walter Hecht   

Legal abortions in the US number about 1.2 million per year and that represents a decline and a leveling off at that number. The number one reason women give for an abortion is that a child would interfere with their lives and the number two reason is that they cannot afford a child. To reduce the number of abortions in the US, we should be trying to give mothers more options for placing children with parents who can afford them or increasing the incomes of mothers so that they can afford to keep their children themselves.

Social conservatives are focused like a laser on making abortions difficult to obtain or illegal, and I have long wondered why. I now have a theory that I am going to share with you. Some social conservatives may oppose abortion for religious or moral reasons, but I believe that Republicans are opposed to abortion for political reasons. The number of whites in the US is declining both relatively and absolutely compared to other racial groups. I believe that the GOP oppose abortion primarily among educated and affluent white women because that will reduce the number of future GOP voters. I can explain the GOP single-minded focus on abortion in no other way. The GOP will lose some women’s votes due to their perceived war on women, but they continue to insist on more abortion restrictions, contrary to Roe versus Wade.