Dem
51
GOP
49
Since today's post is rather heavy on reproductive stuff, how about some good and interesting news on that front. You see, back in the 1990s, Finland went through a struggle not too dissimilar from what is going on in the U.S. right now. Abortion rates were way up among young Finns, and voters on both the political right and the political left were deeply concerned.
That said, neither the Finnish government nor the right-wing Finnish political parties are in the thrall of voters who want to outlaw abortion, but who don't particularly have policy ideas beyond that (or who, in many cases, actively oppose such policy ideas). And so, in 2000, the government adopted legislation that made morning-after pills available free of charge to any woman over the age of 15, and that made sex education compulsory in the nation's high schools.
Did it work? You betcha. According to a new report from Finnish public health institute THL, between 2000 and 2023, the number of abortions among Finns under the age of 20 dropped 66%. Among Finns 18 or younger, it was a 78% drop. If you would like that in gross numbers, it works out to about 1,500 fewer abortions a year.
It is not a secret that we have many readers who are pro-choice and a meaningful number of readers who are anti-choice. In theory, this is the sort of evidence-based result that should please people on both sides of the issue. True, there are many Catholics and many evangelicals who oppose birth control, but those folks are increasingly going to have to ask themselves: If your stated belief in the sanctity of human life and your stated opposition to birth control are fundamentally in opposition, then which one matters most?
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)