Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

I set out to verify whether or not access to birth control reduces abortions because I suspected some people were being less than truthful in the claims they were making. The conclusion I've reached is that it all depends on how you define your terms. 

There is a difference, for instance, between birth control and effective birth control. Condoms are the least expensive and most widely available form of birth control. When used consistently and properly, they have a failure rate of about 2% in the course of a year for sexually active women. In real life situations, however, the failure rate is about 18% because of improper or inconsistent use. This means women who rely solely on condoms to prevent pregnancy are more likely than not to become pregnant over a three year period of sexually activity.

A few studies have even shown an increase in unplanned pregnancies and abortions for those who rely on ineffective means of birth control. This happens because sexual activity increases when people have a false sense of security about not becoming pregnant.

There are numerous studies showing what common sense tells us: access to effective means of birth control reduces abortions. Such a conclusion is not widely accepted, however, because many consider these effective means of birth control simply to be another form of abortion.

Everything hinges on the definition of when life begins. There are at least four possibilities:

1. Life begins as a newborn takes its first breath. This hearkens back to God breathing life into Adam, and is consistent with childbirth practices prior to the advent of modern medicine. 
2. Life begins at fetal viability. The conclusion of Roe v. Wade was that a woman had a "right of privacy" to end a pregnancy until fetal viability was reached, the point when a child could survive outside the womb. This was understood to come about the sixth month. 
3. Life begins at implantation. Only when a fertilized egg is implanted in the uterine wall does it have the possibility of becoming a person. 
4. Life begins at fertilization. Even before a fertilized egg is implanted, cellular development has started and life has thus begun.

The distinction between #3 and #4 is critical: if life begins at the point of fertilization, any birth control method which interferes with implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine wall is a form of abortion. Birth control pills, for instance, are primarily intended to prevent ovulation. However, they also lessen the chance of fertilization, and increase uterine resistance to accepting a fertilized egg. If life begins at fertilization, birth control pills are, at least in some cases, a form of abortion. 

Norplant and IUDs, frequently touted as some of the most effective forms of birth control, are specifically designed to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall.  

Given these irreconcilable understandings and definitions, it isn't surprising there is so little constructive dialogue between those who are pro-choice and pro-life.