I’ve already written several posts about the meeting last week Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, and other right-wing groups and Joshua DuBois, head of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, at the White House.
The topic of the meeting was abortion reduction and, as I pointed out repeatedly, there is a key difference between “the need to reduce abortions” and “reducing the need for abortion.” CWA does not recognize that there is ever a “need” for abortion and is fundamentally opposed to things like family planning and sex ed. CWA’s Wendy Wright has been very clear on their position, saying repeatedly that restrictions and regulation on reproductive choice, coupled with funding for crisis pregnancy centers, are the best ways to reduce abortion.
Last week, Wright appeared on NPR’s “Tell Me More” where she made this point explicitly, saying there is no such thing as a need for abortion:
There are two phrases that have been used: reducing the number of abortions and reducing the need for abortion. Well, no woman wants an abortion – she has a need, and she thinks the abortion will solve that problem. So what we really need to look at is what are those needs? What is it that she needs help with? Does she need housing? Does she need career support? And providing her needs can help her to make the choice of giving life to her child, which then will result in fewer abortions. So it's important that we look at what are the true needs of women and helping to - helping her with those needs rather than just say, here’s an abortion, end of problem - which is not the end of the problem, it's all just the beginning of many more problems.
The White House’s stated goal is to “reduce the need for abortion,” and working with groups to achieve that is generally only efficient if said groups actually recognize that such a need exists.
