Abortion: Nature or Nurture?

The Numbers

 Here are some approximate numbers related to human reproduction.

Women

• 1 million - The number of eggs a woman is born with.
• 400,000 - The number of eggs left by the time she reaches puberty.
• 400 - The number of eggs released for ovulation over her lifetime.
• 6 - The average number of eggs that get fertilized.
• 3 - The average number of eggs that become a person.

Nature vs. Women

• 99.9% of unfertilized eggs are discarded or reabsorbed (from the time of puberty).
• 50% of fertilized eggs (embryos) are lost (most before the woman knows she's pregnant).
• 10-20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Men

• Over 500 billion - The number of sperm each man produces in his lifetime.
• 8,700 - Number of ejaculations in his lifetime (Link).
• 80 - 300 million - The number of sperm per ejaculation.
• 6 billion - The approximate number of sperm it takes to make a baby (78 ejaculations).
• 3 - The average number of a man's sperm that become a person.

Nature vs. Man

• 99.99999998% of sperm that are sent on a life-making mission end up dead.

Women vs. Nature

• 360 - The number of eggs not fertilized due to birth control.
• 20% of pregnancies are aborted by the woman's choice (1-3% due to advice from a doctor).

Man vs. Nature

• 99% of sperm are wasted, not making a baby (due to birth control or masturbation)
• Man friendly calculation. Only 8,622 sperm are wasted since only one sperm would is prevented from doing it's job, the rest would have been wasted anyways. That's only 0.0000017% wasted.

Conclusion

• Nature wastes more eggs than women do by a ratio of 1,000-to-1 (I'll admit that this is a lame statistic since so many of these eggs never had a chance).
• Nature aborts more embryos than women do by a ratio of 2.5-to-1.
• Man wastes more sperm than nature by a ratio of 25-to-1
• Calculation: Only 3 sperm are needed to make his 3 babies, so nature wastes 3 x 6 = 18 billion. The rest of his 500 billion sperm, or 500 - 18 = 482 billion, are wasted by the man.

Bonus Material

Other parties that try to have a say in the nature vs nurture battle.

• 1-3% of abortions were recommended by doctors for the woman's health.
• 12 states have total abortion bans.
• Female legislators are significantly underrepresented (~22%) in states with total abortion bans.
• 21 states protect abortion.
• Women make up about 40% of the legislature in states with abortion protection.
• Abortion Opinions
• 8-13% of Americans are against abortion in any circumstance.
• 36% of Americans are against abortion in most circumstances.
• Most opposition to abortion is due to religious beliefs.
• Birth Control Opinions
• 9-11% of Americans are opposed to birth control.
• Most opposition to birth control is due to religious beliefs.
• Wasted sperm is a sin like abortion, according to the Catholic and other conservative Christian churches.
• Bloggers write about abortion when they don't have the expertise (hey, that hurt!).

Spending or Revenue Problem

 Imagine two people. Friends of yours. Maybe a family member.

The first person has maxed out all of their credit cards. They don’t have an extravagant lifestyle. They have a modest car and apartment. But they did opt for two bedrooms for when friends or family come to visit. The rent is higher, and with their car payment, they have to use the credit card to make ends meet. And it’s not like they went crazy with their card. I mean, when their best friend has a destination wedding, they had to go and their only choice was to put it on the card. And they had to go to that concert! Their favorite artist NEVER comes to town and they saved thousands of dollars by not having travel expenses. Every charge can be justified: the gym membership, Netflix, Uber Eats (they were too sick to make anything), Starbucks, the latest iPhone (they broke their old phone in a freak accident), etc.

Question: Would you say they had a spending problem or revenue problem?

The second person doesn’t even have a credit card. Well, they have one, but only for emergencies. They live in a basement apartment, if you can call it that. It’s more like a bathroom with a bed in it. They get around on a used bike they fixed up and public transportation. They make their own food; mostly dishes with rice, beans, or potatoes. If they’re in a hurry, they’ll splurge with Top Ramen, though they bought it in bulk and got a good deal because it was expired. They have a very old phone that is embarrassingly slow.

Question: Does this person have a spending problem or a revenue problem?

Now, you have the opportunity to give $100 per month extra, divided however you deem fair. Who will benefit from the $100 extra the most? The first person is living with a deficit, surely they need it most?

While both people have a revenue problem, the spending problem of the first person concerns you that the extra money may not help. I would argue that the spending problem needs to be addressed before they get help with the revenue.