No one wants them.
Not a single person wakes up and says, “I wish women had more abortions.”
That doesn’t mean abortions should be stigmatized.
What it means is that we’ve allowed the parties to define the issue—and therefore the solutions—in a way that rarely asks whether women are actually being given meaningful choices in the first place.
Human dignity demands a society where people are trusted to make medical decisions and supported to thrive—especially women, whose bodies bear the sacred work of carrying future generations.
That should be the starting point.
Instead, two-party politics begins with which side can weaponize the issue more effectively. The big business of elections rarely invites us to recognize a common goal: reduce the number of abortions.
Republicans raise money telling us Democrats are coming for unborn children.
Democrats raise money telling us Republicans are coming for women’s rights.
Profiting off outrage is easy. Finding solutions is harder.
Women own their bodies. Bodily autonomy is not something I am interested in negotiating away.
But protecting that right is not the same thing as crafting a solution.
Here in Pennsylvania, Democrats want us to believe that if we hand them every lever of power, reproductive freedom in the state Constitution will finally give women what they need.
Yet Pennsylvania looks an awful lot like abortion-ban states when we examine the conditions women face during pregnancy and after birth.
Among Pennsylvania and the 13 total-abortion-ban states, not one provides universal child care or mandatory statewide paid family and medical leave. Ten of those 13 states have lower child-care costs relative to single-parent income than Pennsylvania.
Democrats can call this codifying ‘choice.’ But choice is more than keeping government out of reproductive health care; it must mean there is an actual choice to make.
A woman does not have a meaningful choice if motherhood means unpaid leave, unaffordable child care, medical debt, lost years in the workforce, and being seen as a riskier hire—while not having a child means preserving the career and future she worked to build. Those are not remotely equal options.
And if reducing abortions is actually the goal, bans aren’t the solution. International comparisons have found similar abortion rates where abortion is broadly legal and where it is restricted.
So valuing life must mean more than prohibiting abortion. It requires building the conditions that honor life—not just in the womb, but in the world.
Likewise, a commitment to valuing women has to show up in her paycheck, her child-care bill, and the time she needs to heal without fearing for her job.
Republicans do not get to tell women how sacred motherhood is and then build a society that punishes them for becoming mothers.
At the same time, Democrats do not get to claim the mantle of defending women while treating abortion access as the finish line–failing to build the conditions that make choosing motherhood economically possible.
Dismantling decades of party messaging designed to drive outrage, division, and fundraising will take work.
But I know there are people in this community who care more about the women living next door than protecting a party’s talking points.
So I am inviting you into a different space—one where we can wrestle with faith, public life, bodily autonomy, and medical freedom. A space where someone who believes deeply in the sanctity of life can sit across from someone equally committed to a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body without surrendering their humanity.
READ: Planned Parenthood Forced to Slash Vital Reproductive Health Care to Pennsylvania Medicaid Patients
Because when we stop organizing around party positions and start organizing around a common goal, something changes.
A fiscal conservative may be willing to support universal child care or paid family leave in pursuit of reducing the number of abortions.
Without that space, we stay divided—quick to shame and vilify anyone who does not immediately share our viewpoint.
Can you recall someone changing deeply held beliefs because they were berated into submission?
How we approach abortion matters. How we approach one another matters.
Solutions that last require people to have some ownership in building them. When either party treats half the community as something to overpower rather than people to engage, we shouldn’t be surprised when every political victory becomes the beginning of the next political war.
Maybe it’s time to step off the seesaw.
AI assistance was used to edit this column by the author.
