The Free Market Will Destroy the Abortion Industry

By Lauren Cooley, Op-ed contributor Tuesday, July 28, 2015

A series of videos from the Center for Medical Progress has exposed Planned Parenthood for selling the body parts of the fetuses they abort. Not only is this sickening, it is a federal offense.

While many are calling for the investigation and defunding of Planned Parenthood, I believe this is just a drop in the bucket in regards to how the pro-life right should combat the abortion industry.

A bad product or practice will not become extinct until a better product or practice comes along to replace it.

For example, horse drawn carriages are now extinct, with the exception of nostalgia. They were replaced by steam engines, then the combustion engine; thank God for automobiles! Washboards and clotheslines have been replaced with in-home washers and driers. Beepers are now considered "retro" as we use our iPhones. And candles? A sweet smelling, decor accessory, not a heat and light necessity.

In the same way, if we want to end abortion, a newer, better option will have to replace it. Like any other good or service, abortion is subject to the laws of supply and demand.

While I personally believe that abortion is never a "good" option and many would argue adoption is a "better" option, we must acknowledge that many find abortion to be the most convenient, cheap, and quick fix.

Abortion is one of the cruelest, most gruesome and primitive practices of today's modern man; participation in the free market, on the other hand, is one of the key defining traits of civilized human interaction.

Viewing any industry from a free-market lense, government regulation and condemnation won't bring about a new service. It will only regulate - and therefore muck up - the current practice.

While putting a damper on the abortion industry through government regulation might be a step in the right direction, it is unrealistic at best. Our own government has taken the reverse role and has subsidized groups like Planned Parenthood to the tune of $46 million in federal grants, just this year alone. In fact, since 2012, Planned Parenthood has received more than $207 million in federal funds.

One must also consider the effects of the black market - if you outlaw abortions, some women will seek them illegally - in dirty, dark alleyways. Planned Parenthood is already dabbling in the black market, as displayed by the undercover videos exposing the federal offense of selling fetal body parts.

So while defunding, regulation, and even criminalization may be a hinderance, it is not a solution.

Compassionate, pro-life, free-market capitalists need to focus on the product or procedure that will make abortion an irrelevant, outdated practice. Just as the invention of the thumb drive has saved more trees than any government regulation, a for-profit invention would save more lives than the government ever could.

We must rid ourselves of the government-is-the-solution mentality and start fighting for life via the free market. We must practice the approaches that we preach!

So, what is this new product or procedure that could make abortion a thing of the past?

Different scientists and doctors will give you different answers. One that has peeked my interest is the concept of ectogenesis or eviction incubators.

Ectogenesis, simply put, is the development of an embryo or fetus in artificial conditions outside the uterus. This requires an artificial uterus - something medical technology has yet to perfect. But as technology progresses, so will the range of fetal viability.

In non-scientific terms, women, who do not wish to be pregnant, give up their child during the stage of fetal viability. The young fetus is then transferred to an artificial, replacement uterus. From there, the fetus grows to full-term and is birthed artificially. Adoption agencies, who have a high market demand for more children, can then care for the child and place it into a loving home.

Now I'm the first to admit, growing fetuses in medical boxes and giving them to the highest bidder sounds uncomfortably similar to the plot of a new-agey, sci-fi flick. But research in this area is proceeding apace and once perfected, would bring happiness to families who so wish to adopt. Most importantly, it would save millions of lives.

Ectogenesis is just one example solution. Time and time again, the free market has created products and solutions that just years before no one would have ever imagined. If we do not invest in free markets as the solution, we will never stamp out the genocide of the unborn.

The alternative is the backwards, primitive, and barbaric option of killing the unwanted unborn. When you must choose between the two, those who align themselves with free-market and pro-life values should be wholeheartedly on the side of progress. In the years to come, new medical technology will "solve" the abortion problem.

Lauren Cooley is a conservative commentator, columnist, and consultant. She speaks nation-wide about bias in higher education and political issues impacting young adults.