Falling down a hill is quite painful. However, once you start falling down a hill, you’re going to keep falling until you reach the bottom, unless you make a conscious and coordinated decision to stop yourself, if you are even able to. In that sense, once you start falling down a hill, it is very easy to keep falling, because it’s what happens if you don’t try to change things.
In the same sense (and I apologize for the unpleasant metaphor) pregnancy is easy; once a woman is pregnant, barring miscarriage, she’s gonna have a kid. It’s going to be painful and at times miserable, but it’s going to happen. I agree with you that there’s less disutility experienced if she has an abortion, but she has to make a conscious choice to do that, go to a clinic, and pay a bill. It may be the more pleasant way out, but, in this context, it’s not easier; it doesn’t really happen by accident (excepting spontaneous miscarriage, which is admittedly fairly common, but besides the point).
Everything you describe is something she endures; there’s no willpower to it. This is in contrast with saving a life as discussed earlier, which requires a deliberate, conscious decision, negotiating some mild bureaucracy, and writing a check. If you get pregnant and do not actively choose to do something about it, you have a kid. If you get a checkbook and do not actively choose to write checks to charities, you don’t save any lives. That’s what easy means.
ETA: You also assume that abortion has no cost beyond its monetary cost. For women who believe it is wrong for whatever reason, it may be far, far more unpleasant than having the child.
I’m 99% sure you’re missing the point.
Falling down a hill is quite painful. However, once you start falling down a hill, you’re going to keep falling until you reach the bottom, unless you make a conscious and coordinated decision to stop yourself, if you are even able to. In that sense, once you start falling down a hill, it is very easy to keep falling, because it’s what happens if you don’t try to change things.
In the same sense (and I apologize for the unpleasant metaphor) pregnancy is easy; once a woman is pregnant, barring miscarriage, she’s gonna have a kid. It’s going to be painful and at times miserable, but it’s going to happen. I agree with you that there’s less disutility experienced if she has an abortion, but she has to make a conscious choice to do that, go to a clinic, and pay a bill. It may be the more pleasant way out, but, in this context, it’s not easier; it doesn’t really happen by accident (excepting spontaneous miscarriage, which is admittedly fairly common, but besides the point).
Everything you describe is something she endures; there’s no willpower to it. This is in contrast with saving a life as discussed earlier, which requires a deliberate, conscious decision, negotiating some mild bureaucracy, and writing a check. If you get pregnant and do not actively choose to do something about it, you have a kid. If you get a checkbook and do not actively choose to write checks to charities, you don’t save any lives. That’s what easy means.
ETA: You also assume that abortion has no cost beyond its monetary cost. For women who believe it is wrong for whatever reason, it may be far, far more unpleasant than having the child.