The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on Western abortion regimes are beginning to become clear with a rash of bad news. As lockdowns and restrictions brought economic insecurity, many women opted to have abortions — just as governments made procuring them easier by lifting regulations on “do-it-yourself” abortion pills. People were confined to their homes and often out of work — and then told they could get everything they needed to abort their children sent right to their mailboxes.
In England and Wales, for example, The Guardian is reporting a sharp rise in abortions, especially in the category of women over thirty. There were a reported 209,917 abortions last year, up from 207,384 in 2019. “The largest increases in abortion rates by age,” the report notes, “were among women aged 30 to 34 with a rise from 16.5 per 1,000 in 2012 to 21.9 in 2020.” According to The Guardian: “Experts put the numbers down to women being able to seek abortion treatment at home during the pandemic and also financial uncertainty meaning women have had to make ‘tough decisions.’”
Clare Murphy, a top executive with the U.K.’s abortion service, BPAS, noted that the loosening of restrictions is one reason more abortions are happening. “[A]s a result of early abortion at home becoming lawful, women no longer need to seek help outside regulated providers,” she stated. A combination of ease of access and economic uncertainty have created circumstances leading to an increase in children being killed by abortion — facilitated and funded by the government. In almost every Western country, abortion was labeled an essential service.
