Short Answer: All Our Lives upholds the recognized human right of voluntary, fully informed, socially supported family planning, both for its own sake and its essential role in reducing abortions. This right covers the full range of pregnancy prevention methods and affirms the need for comprehensive as opposed to abstinence-only sex education.
Long Answer: We vigorously oppose coercive practices such as contraceptive sabotage by male partners; environmental pollution that impedes voluntary exercise of fertility; government-endorsed sterilization of the poor, disabled persons, and people of color.
We recognize that comprehensive sex education and access to family planning are necessary but not sufficient conditions its correct, consistent, and thus optimally effective use.
Promoting equality within male-female relationships is critical as well. Inequalities related to race, class, disability, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity also undermine family planning use. These must be alleviated as well.
Just as strongly, we support people’s right and ability to choose whichever method(s) they want to use or not use. In other words, we advocate the right of those with objections to “artificial” contraception to choose abstinence or natural family planning as much as we advocate the right of people with different beliefs to choose barrier methods, hormonal contraceptives, IUDs, male and female sterilization, and sexual practices that involve no risk of conception.
We have reviewed the scientific literature regarding:
- The effect of contraception on abortion rates.
- The mechanisms of action for present-day hormonal methods(including emergency contraception or EC) and intrauterine devices or IUDs.
We have concluded:
- Greater access to contraception reduces abortion in most cases. In those few cases where it does not, the answer is more contraception, not less.
- The best available evidence shows that hormonal methods (including EC) and IUDs work before, not after conception.
We include links to the evidence here: