There is also an interesting societal point to abortion.
We often look at it on an individual level, as that's more relatable and applicable to most people. But on a societal level, there is an interesting trend:
Since legalisation:
8,745,508 abortions have taken place legally in the UK
if you accept that lets say 25% of those would have still happened, even in an illegal system, then we are around:
- 6.5 million potential British people + their potential offspring.
At the same time we have faced years of fear about our aging population, and how we need to solve the crisis through mass immigration. So what have we done. Since 1967, when abortion became legal, we have a net migration of aproximatly 5.8 million people.
6.5million more abortions, and the loss of potential offspring they could have
5.8 million more people brought in, and the gain of potential offspring they could have
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For me this shows a few things:
1, population growth as a driving economic force will always be the goal, even if birthrates decline.
2, labor will be found by those who need it, and if its not coming from babies, it will come externally.
3, western societies with modern values can't support their own population numbers, with only babies that people 'choose' to have. You need unplanned and accidental pregnancies as well to keep population growth healthy.
to add more context to this:
1, Our birth rate is currently far lower then it was back in the 1960s, and has never recovered to the peaks we were hitting before abortion became illegal.
2, Currently our birthrates are massively compensated for by immigrant families. Their birthrates to decrease by generation when here, but with the constant influx of new migrants, their birthrate as a whole remains high and growing in proportion to native-uk birthrates
3, just under half of babies are born out of marriage today, compared to 10% before abortion became legal (not that these are related, its just the years that I am looking at )
4, infant mortality has gone way down, which compensates a little for the declining birthrate.
5, the average age of women giving birth and keeping their baby is now over 30, compared to early-mid 20s in the 60s
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I don't think there is anything morally or practically wrong with sustaining a growing working-age population by replacing new-born babies with migrants.. as such. Its certainly 100% not something you can blame the migrants for. And its not even something you can really blame our politicans for either.. they just reacted slowly to a problem. They, and business at large, saw an aging population, and found a solution. For me the root cause, for better or worse, is that we have seen a revolution (no other word comes close to describing its significance) in the structures and perceptions of family and marriages in the last century, that has caused all manner of knock-on effects.