5 Key Teachings: THE TURNAWAY STUDY, by Diana Greene Foster

Diana Greene Foster created The Turnaway Study in response to lawmakers who asserted that abortion is deleterious to women's mental health—based on ZERO data. She followed 1,000 women, over 10 years who either received or were denied an abortion. These women look like the national statistics: 37% white, 29% African American, 21% Latina, 4% American Indian, and 3%. Asian American. A vast majority of these women were poor. The women who were denied abortions were turned away because they were too late. They were not turned away because of "laziness," but because they did not know they were pregnant: They frequently missed periods, continued to get periods, etc. and had no idea their birth control had failed. (I don't think most cis men realize that by the time you test positive, you are officially already four weeks pregnant.) With every passing week, the cost of abortion climbs and the number of clinics diminishes, so many of these women were already in a race to find the cash. (Abortion costs from $500 into the thousands, unless you live in California, where it's covered as part of Medicaid.) The book is full of essential details about these women, 60% of whom (like the national average) were already mothers, and recognized that they could not support another child. 31% of these women cited a problematic partner as the reason for seeking an abortion (i.e. abuse, etc.). Several of the women profiled believed previously that abortion was immoral, until they found themselves in the position and recognized that having a child would be more immoral. Also, for those who argue that abortion is "an irresponsible" form of birth control, a woman would need to have 30 abortions throughout her life to avoid birth: Nobody is choosing abortion as a convenience. Also worth noting: Complications from abortion are essentially zero (2% of abortions have complications; the complications for wisdom tooth extraction are 7% for context), yet TWO OF THE WOMEN IN THE STUDY WHO WERE DENIED AN ABORTION DIED FROM COMPLICATIONS FROM CHILDBIRTH. Having a baby is a dangerous business; having an abortion is not.

Please read The Turnaway Study so you’re well-armed for conversations about abortion.

5 KEY TEACHINGS:

1. The decision to have an abortion is not necessarily difficult.

As the study reports: “For some women the decision to have an abortion is straightforward—30% of the women in our study said it was somewhat or very easy to decide to have an abortion, and 14% said the decision was neither easy nor difficult. For just over half of women, it is a difficult decision—29% reported it was somewhat difficult, and 27% reported that it was very difficult.”

2. The cost of birth control is quite staggering—also, the argument that women are using abortion as birth control is actually insane. Abortions are out-of-reach expensive for most women—they’re certainly not an easy, or affordable, option.

“Let’s talk about a concern frequently raised by many who are supportive of abortion rights but worry that such a right will be overused—that women might be using abortion as their primary method of family planning. Well, if a woman wanted to use abortion as a regular method of family planning from first sex to menopause, she would need to have about 30 first trimester abortions or 25 second-trimester abortions over her lifetime. That is what using abortion as a method of birth control would entail. If you are talking about someone who has had fewer than ten abortions, consider them an unlucky or perhaps an inconsistent contraceptive user, not a user of abortion as their sole method of family planning.”