The point here is not to say that technology skews pro-life, but to make the point that technology drives culture (i.e., how people actually live their lives and their social values)—which, in turn, drives politics. A famous conservative book proclaims that Ideas Have Consequences, but I would argue that technological innovation is even more powerful than any “ism” or ideology.
This isn’t unique to the abortion debate. Before the technological advance of the ultrasound, the birth control pill allowed the free-wheeling love-in culture of the 1960s that gave rise to the sexual revolution. Being able to have sex that was free of consequence (or, at least, free of pregnancy) had implications beyond the obvious. Much of the pay disparity between men and women can be attributed to a “pregnancy penalty.” For aspiring career women who wanted to emulate TV’s Mary Richards, the pill was a game-changer. But it has also been linked to the decline in marriage rates, the population decline, and the trend of women delaying childbirth until they are older—cultural changes that many conservative Americans might lament more than the sexual revolution.
Nothing Betty Friedan (or, on the other side, Phyllis Schlafly) said or did changed the culture half as much as the simple invention of the pill.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member