00:00:00.000So all that to try and answer your question, we know that regret rates of abortion are actually quite low.
00:00:06.660And these differ between studies. Some people say it's 5 percent.
00:00:10.780I think that's nonsense. Probably other studies show it's more like 10, 20 percent regret rates.
00:00:16.400And some studies show that people regret abortion the longer time has elapsed since the abortion.
00:00:24.140So, you know, they'll say immediately after the abortion, I don't regret it at all.
00:00:28.240But you ask them 20 years later, maybe when they haven't had any children and they really wanted a child.
00:00:32.940Now I regret it. So I think part of it is that they don't regret it early on, but they might do later.
00:00:38.340But still, the majority of people say, I don't regret it.
00:00:41.760And I think what's probably going on for a significant number of women is.
00:00:46.960There will be a lot of women out there who have a mental health problem as part of the abortion.
00:00:51.100They won't recognize that it's part of the abortion.
00:00:53.560They will recognize that their life is unhappy, but they will say abortion was the right choice.
00:00:59.860And I think this is the same instinct that most of us have.
00:01:03.020When we've made a decision, we have a bias towards not regretting it.
00:01:07.240We think it was the right decision. Everything happens for a reason.
00:01:11.260It was the right thing to do in my circumstance and so on.
00:01:14.140And I think especially with such an emotionally charged issue like this and an issue where the reality is so painful,
00:01:22.560it's quite understandable that many people would have a psychological instinct to just think, no, no, no, that reality is too much.
00:01:31.240I definitely made the right decision in my circumstance, even if there is an awareness that I'm not happy and I have these mental difficulties.
00:01:38.140You know what I think it is? I think it's like, this is just a guess, just me talking.
00:01:45.020I think it's like from an evolutionary point of view, women are trying to get the best guy they can, right?
00:02:28.100Yeah, so it's like then they try for the six, try for the seven, try for the eight, can't get a kid off of him, can't get a relationship off of him.
00:02:34.600Now there's regret because she could have had the kid with the five and actually passed on her genes.
00:02:44.900Because, like, women, from an evolutionary point of view, would rather be, like, the concubine of the king than the wife of the peasant.
00:02:54.280Unfortunately, I don't say this, like—but there's a reason, like, women, you know, they're putting hot—Drake's putting hot sauce in his condoms, you know what I mean?
00:03:02.580It's not because they think he's going to, like, give them—he's going to give them commitment, trying to get the best genes.
00:03:08.280So I think there's a whole load of interesting stuff in evolution that we don't take seriously that affects how men and women interact.
00:03:16.400So I think there's a whole load of interesting stuff in evolutionary history that explains the relationships between men and women that we just don't take account of.
00:03:23.020You know, you think in all of biology, or much of biology, I should say, there's male and female, and they are different biologically, and because of their different biological circumstances, they select for different things.
00:03:38.660You know, what is good for a woman is not necessarily what is good for a man.
00:03:44.280And this is just a basic feature of biology.
00:03:47.480And because people in the modern world have sort of tried to erase any biological differences between men and women, you get a lot of, like, just blindness to the fact that they might flourish in different ways and that sort of thing.
00:03:59.280Now, that's not to say, like, you know, the most provocative thing possible.
00:04:05.380Like, I'm not saying, like, women are supposed to spend all their time in the kitchen, men are supposed to spend all their time on the battlefield, whatever.
00:04:13.180The point is that there are differences between men and women, and they prefer different things in partners on average.
00:04:19.600They prefer different ways of living their life on average and so on.
00:04:22.760And I don't think, you know, that's a basic statement of biological fact.
00:04:26.960It's not, you know, like a particularly provocative thing to say, or at least it shouldn't be.
00:04:31.240When it comes to the question of abortion and relationships, of course, the evolutionary things will make a difference when it comes to relational choices and things like that.
00:04:43.580There's good evidence, as far as I'm aware, that, you know, women particularly prize men who will be able to look after their child and who will be able to provide materially,
00:04:54.200because that's what many women need, particularly back in ancient evolutionary times.
00:05:00.840And therefore, women are more attracted to, say, status or money in a man than vice versa.
00:05:08.580That's not to say that it's, you know, it's not a generalization.
00:06:29.220But I think when we look at the evidence on the reasons for abortion, I would say that reasons relating to the partner are a significant minority, but they're not the majority.
00:06:38.700I think the most common reasons are things like, it will disrupt my career, it will disrupt my education.
00:06:44.420Now, that will interact with their attitude towards the guy, of course.
00:06:51.700Yeah, I don't think most women are consciously thinking about the partner when they make the decision.
00:06:57.940On the other hand, we know that marriage is one of the most protective factors against abortion.
00:07:05.280If you're in a stable, permanent, committed relationship, that is one of the strongest factors that makes a woman less likely to have an abortion.
00:07:14.700So, this is why part of the reason that men have such an important role to play in this debate and in this discussion is because the man being there, ready to commit to the woman and to the child, and the woman ready to accept the man as a committed partner to her and to the child, that is one of the most powerful things you can have to prevent abortion.
00:07:37.380And so, one of the things to reduce the abortion rate is encouraging men and women to form those relationships for the good of each other and for the kids.
00:07:46.220And, you know, there's a lot of debate, whose fault is it?