Via dogra @ Flickr.
Well whadya know: Women consider their economic circumstances, rather than their waist-to-hip ratio, when deciding whether to bring another hungry mouth into their families. Women who might continue their pregnancies in a better economy are deciding that the costs of raising a child are too much to bear right now. And poor women have always had to take that into consideration. Unfortunately, the economic downturn has forced some women’s clinics to close their doors, leaving abortion-seeking women in an even tougher bind. Furthermore, not all insurance companies will cover the cost of abortion, and enrolling in Medi-Cal, California’s healthcare system for the poor, can be a long process. By the time some women are able to find the money to pay for abortion, they find it’s too late to obtain one (or even more expensive). Lopez says women who had decided to terminate early often find themselves choosing between second-trimester abortions or going through with the unwanted pregnancy.
The only bright spot I can find in this news is that, according to a recent Gallup Organization survey, one in five women is more conscientious about using birth control now than they were a year ago. At Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, requests for IUDs were up 83 percent in the first quarter of 2009, over the same period in 2008.
* /right wing
But Sarah! Poor people don’t get to have sex! Sex is only for people who are rich enough to support a child. If poor people have sex, they’re being irresponsible.
(*headdesk*)
I don’t think IUDs = unqualified good. There may be women who were planning to/thinking about starting a family, and are sad that now they have to put it off.
I don’t know if it’s an unqualified good, but it’s good that more women are taking preventative measures rather than getting pregnant and needing abortions.
I wonder how much can be attributed to clinics closing–so PP locations polled get more business (they still exist!)–versus an actual increase in numbers. Also, are more women having “accidents” because of the expense of BC or a lack of health insurance coverage leading to no prescription? Are more people going to PP and asking for IUDs because they would have gone to a different clinic in the past but switched because of finances or insurance?
I have the tendency to find a lot of alternative explanations for things….