The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the financial strains that it caused, prompted some mothers to abort their unborn babies, according to a new study from Japan.
Researchers with the Japanese health ministry found that about 8 percent of the women who had abortions in the fall of 2020 did so because of the pandemic, the Japan Times reports.
The researchers based their study on 1,965 women who chose to have abortions between Oct. 15 and Nov. 14 in Japan.
According to their research, 152 of the women (about 8 percent) said they chose abortion because of financial struggles related to the pandemic or fears about COVID-19 itself.
Here’s more from the report:
Of the 152 women, the largest number, 46, were in the 25-29 age group, followed by 35 age 20 to 24 and 30 age 30 to 34.
When the 152 women were asked to give up to three reasons for choosing an abortion, 87 cited their partner’s income decline or job loss, 74 cited their own income drop or unemployment, and 42 said they were afraid of contracting the coronavirus during their pregnancy.
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Significantly, the researchers predicted that the 152 unborn babies could have been spared from abortion if their mothers “had the economic resources.”
Not unique to the pandemic, women often mention financial problems as a reason for seeking an abortion. According to the “Turnaway Study,” a project of the pro-abortion Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco, 40 percent of women seeking abortions mention financial reasons.
However, the study and others also have found that women often mention multiple reasons for an abortion, including relationship problems, future goals, other children and even just “bad timing.”
“Women have cited ‘social reasons,’ not mother’s health or rape/incest, as their motivation in approximately 93% of all abortions,” according to National Right to Life.
Pro-lifers work hard to make sure women never have to feel that they need an abortion because they are financially unstable. Thousand of pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies and other charities provide material and financial support to help families in need.
