Why People are Pro-Choice

First, a Quick Look at Prohibition and Legislating Morality

Photo by Jasmine on Unsplash

I had a comment from a reader the other day regarding an article I’d written about some of the legislation and ideas held by extremists and right wingers trying to force their moral and religious beliefs on others, and he reminded me that “you can’t legislate morality.” I immediately thought of Prohibition, since it was just such an endeavor, and I thought it would be interesting to look at bans on abortion through the past lens of Prohibition and started to research it.

Most people think Prohibition was an absolute, utter failure. Surprisingly, I found out it did have a positive impact in some ways, at least initially. Drinking alcohol, once it became illegal, dropped drastically at first. Only about 30% of the people who drank before Prohibition continued drinking alcohol illegally. This had a positive effect when it came to domestic violence cases, overspending on alcohol that took away from family support and needs, and it also had a positive effect on some health issues associated with excessive drinking.

Everyone knows drinking alcohol in excess is bad for you and your family for all of the above reasons and more, and making it illegal positively affected individuals, families, health, and violence caused by drinking alcohol to some extent for…