as i was arguing with a pro-abortion feminist over the abortion/child support double standard, i collected some statistics that i believe are relevant to the discussion and should be brought up every time this sort of discussion appears again. you can read the conversation here. note that even though i was arguing against elective abortions (abortions done for conveniences rather than rape, life/health of mother, and fetal defects), the feminist insisted that pregnancy is not a valid form of child support because of the risks it carries. the life/health of the mother exception would've dealt with such types of risks, but let's actually look at the risks.

according to the c.d.c., approximately 650 women die each year in the u.s. due to pregnancy related complications. you can read their reports here. also, the reality is that very few abortions are done for health reasons. over 90% of abortions are done for conveniences.

according to the department of labor, approximately 4,609 people died in 2011 due to occupational hazards. and, the recent 2011 data shows that another 3 million+ have nonfatal injuries. i am using the magnitude of numbers since the number of pregnant women are much lower than the number of workers.

in addition, here's a list of the most common hazards:

Fall protection, construction

Hazard communication standard, general industry

Scaffolding, general requirements, construction

Respiratory protection, general industry

Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry

Powered industrial trucks, general industry

Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry

Ladders, construction

Machines, general requirements, general industry

Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry

note: all of the above fields are dominated by men.

what we can infer from this is that mandated child support (mandated labor) is actually more risky than pregnancy. so if we are going to assess the validity of certain forms of child support based on risks, then mandated labor should be crossed off as invalid, since it carries high risk -- at least according to the feminist's reasoning. as i mentioned in the original conversation, mandated labor is a violation of bodily autonomy as well, not just a violation of property (income transfer). my original reasoning was that mandated labor and the risk of jail time are the violations of bodily autonomy, but now i include workplace hazards as well.

in addition, the feminist's reasoning brings in a moral dilemma when we deal with parricide (when a child kills his parent(s)). according to the data by the f.b.i., approximately 2% of the murders are committed by children against their parents. recall that the feminist is attempting to take the few incidences of non-elective abortions (~7%) and using them to justify the entirety of abortions (the remaining ~93%). if we apply the same reasoning to parricide, we would be justified in killing children just simply because having them carries a small risk of being killed by them. you can read more about the prevalence of parricide here.

the feminist was doing mental gymnastics to defend abortion, and i can see why, since abortions are the sacred cows of feminists. to go back to the abortion/child support argument, defenders of abortion and mandated child support must demonstrate why pregnancy is not a valid form of child support. so far, the "bodily autonomy" argument just doesn't cut it.