Editor's note: Carrie Sheffield is the author of “Motorhome Prophecy: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. Find more opinion at CNN.
A recent report found that the number of abortions is on the rise between 2022 and 2023, the first calendar year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a disappointing sign that America has not been successful in reducing the number of abortions.
Polls show that many Americans still oppose overturning Roe, and even Republican-leaning states are voting to protect abortion rights.
Carrie Sheffield – Barry Morgenstein
But in some places, pro-life positions on this issue enjoy widespread support and may become more widespread: A Gallup poll found that 64% of Americans support some restrictions on abortion, while only 34% say abortion should be legal under all circumstances. A Pew Research Center poll found that only 19% of Americans say late-term abortions should be legal in all cases.
As a pro-life Republican, I believe there is a winning strategy on abortion that the Republican Party should adopt: advancing a goal that both parties can support: making abortions rarer. The first step is to work together to prevent unwanted pregnancies. After all, preventing pregnancy than having an abortion is less risky for women and much more cost-effective — a win for everyone.
A key way to do that is by increasing access to contraception, which is why it was so significant that former President Donald Trump clarified his support for access to contraception in a Truth Social post on Tuesday after an interview he gave this week was misinterpreted by some.
Asked whether he would consider regulating contraception, he said he was working out further details of a formal policy position and would issue a statement soon.
But it would also be useful for Joe Biden of 2024 to listen to Biden of 2006.
“I don't think of abortion as a choice or a right. I think abortion is always a tragedy. And I think abortion should be rare and safe,” Biden said in a 2006 Texas Monthly interview that was unearthed and resurfaced by CNN in 2019. “I think we should focus on how to limit the number of abortions, and [we] We should be able to have common ground and agreement.[ing] It's possible. I think the vast majority of Americans believe it's possible.”
Overall, abortions have increased by 11% since 2020, the highest number in the U.S. in more than a decade. An estimated 1,037,000 abortions will be performed in 2023, but this could decline significantly in future years if effective contraceptive measures are implemented.
Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine reported that access to free contraception reduces abortion rates, and a study led by Martha Bailey, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, also found that expanding access to contraception reduces abortion rates.
According to a study published by the JAMA Health Forum, more young people are using permanent birth control methods such as tubal ligation and vasectomy since Roe was overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, but about half of women who have abortions report not even using birth control during the month they became pregnant.
Republicans should build on efforts by Republican women in the House to expand access to over-the-counter contraception, including through the Oral Contraception Act of 2023. Introduced last year by nine Republican women in the House, the bill would “expand access to over-the-counter contraception by increasing regulatory clarity to promote competition and provide women with preventive health care options,” sponsors said in a statement.
Unfortunately, some pro-lifers, especially Catholics, are opposed to contraception. I respectfully disagree, and I'm not alone in my opposition. According to a Pew Research Center report, 83% of Catholics in the United States also want the Church to allow the use of contraception. I hope that many who oppose abortion will come to see the provision of contraception as essential to reducing abortions.
On the other hand, Democrats should not overstate Dobbs as paving the way for contraception bans. The Supreme Court already upheld free access to contraception in 1965 in Griswold v. Connecticut. And the Dobbs majority decision explicitly mentioned Griswold, stating, “The Court emphasizes that this decision concerns a constitutional right to abortion, and not any other right. Nothing in this opinion should be construed to call into question precedents unrelated to abortion.” Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion in Dobbs, said Griswold should be reconsidered. But since he was the only one of the nine justices to raise the issue, it's open to debate.
There are legitimate religious freedom concerns about whether religious organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor or Hobby Lobby can be forced to pay for contraception for their employees, but exempting private organizations from paying for contraception is quite different from a universal or governmental restriction on access to contraception itself.
Sadly, the days of former President Bill Clinton's popular call to make abortion “safe, legal and rare” are long gone. Today, some on the left support measures that allow abortions later in pregnancy and reject time limits on abortion access.
A bipartisan focus on prevention would go a long way to bridging the gap. Helping women, and men, to prevent unwanted pregnancies is a strong message that both Republicans and Democrats should embrace. It's good for politics, but most importantly, it's good for women and their families.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account on CNN.com.
