I think Ed Kilgore is entirely correct that anti-choicers will not take credit for a dramatic decline in the frequency of abortions in this country because they (correctly) believe that IUD’s and Plan B are responsible, and because they (incorrectly) believe that IUD’s and Plan B actually cause abortions.
It is already well-known that the anti-choice movement simply will not work with progressives to reduce the frequency of unwanted pregnancies. In fact, most of their efforts have the effect of increasing unwanted pregnancies. Their policies also have the unfortunate effect of delaying abortions until later in the pregnancy.
My question is this: should we consider these people to just be deluded? Or, should we consider them to be primarily concerned not about abortion, but with preventing women from having sex out of wedlock? Is the idea basically that if women can’t separate sex from child-bearing that they will save themselves for marriage?
Is it any more complicated than that?
