It may come as a surprise to those who are pro-life that someone who is pro-choice would be concerned about the number of abortions performed in the U.S. every year.
For the sake of discussion, I will accept that the number, more than 1 million, as stated in the Dec. 6 letter, "Unborn babies need advocates," is a fact. For that same discussion, it would be helpful if those who are pro-life could accept that those who are pro-choice would be perfectly happy if there never had to be another abortion. This is a thought I got from former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. The simplest way to prevent an abortion is to make sure there is no unwanted pregnancy. We know laws don't prevent abortion; they merely endanger the lives of women. We do know, however, that there are perfectly legal ways to prevent pregnancy, which are widely accepted by the majority of our society.
This leaves me with the question: How many of those 1 million abortions could have been prevented by access to birth control? Those who for religious reasons feel birth control is bad could be asked to choose the greater evil: preventing a pregnancy or having an abortion?
This country certainly has the means to provide education and the availability of birth control to cut well into that 1 million number. What's keeping us from getting there?
JOHN F. MALONEY
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