The uncovered medical clinics performing illicit abortions by the police made me think a lot. Couple years ago I received forwarded email that showed many awful aborted fetus’ pictures. The pictures made me sick. Did these should be-mothers have a heart? It was unimaginable way to die. My second impression was how brave these should-be mothers were. While the doctor stabbing the fetus inside the uterus, these females faced death risk too. Why females (single or married) have to risk their life to do abortion?
The most reason of a patient to do abortion will probably be the incapability to provide the future baby a good and healthy life economically and psychologically. If it is the reason, why not legalized the abortion not only for the sake of the baby but also for the sake of the should be-mother and the community?
I will quote a related story about abortion in United States. Around 1990s criminal rate in United States was reported a significant decrease. State of New York for example reported murder rate decreased from 30,7 per 100.000 citizen in 1990 to 8,4 per 100.000 citizen in 2000. Not only in New York, the murder rate decreased in many cities along the United States even in Los Angeles that renown for the bad cops. Some government officials believed it was because of the restructuring in police department. Many scholars believed it was because of the illegal gun control, while some expert argued it was because of the successful prisoners program.
None of these reasons unarguable until Levitt & Dubner in Freakonomics spotted light the demographic fact, a fact about an aging population. In 1990s the growth of elderly is much higher than the younger. It was statistically proved that the probability of a 65 year old man arrested as a criminal is 1 compare to 50 of a teenager so that there were teenager criminals that dominated the criminal population. The reason of the decreasing of the youth criminals (if we dragged back to the year that these teens were born) was the 1973 Roe Wade Act that legalized abortion in United States. The patients of abortion who took benefit from the act were mostly teenager or single or poor female or the combination of the three. By 1990s, the unwanted generation that tent to be teenager criminal was gone. It is indisputable fact that children that born from a poor and single mother have 60% probability to end up as a criminal. United States Abortion Act in 1973 had decreased the generation of unwantedness. Since this unwantedness tent to end up as a criminal, the abortion act has decreased criminal rate.
I cannot say that all of the statistical proved facts in United States will perfectly happen or could be generalized in Indonesia. Even Taleb in Black Swan could probably say that may be one of the million of aborted fetuses could be our future president if he/she were alive (who knows?) but the chain is clear. It is a mother (or a should be-mother) that understand herself very well whether she could provide the baby economically and psychologically or not. These females must have a very strong reason to do abortion, to risk their life to death. Having unwanted baby will give burden to the mother and it will directly affect to the child.
I think it is part of our responsibility to provide safer environment to our children in the future. If abortion will eventually decrease criminal rate, it will reduce threaten to our children in the upcoming years. So, why not legalized abortion for the sake of every party, for the sake of our children too?
