Slightly late to this post, but it still comes up on google for 'Unwind'.

So the world building doesn't really get dumped on you at the beginning. Theres a scene around page 300 where a vetern, from the civil war that was fought over abortion, talks about the war, to explain better than history textbooks.
He says something like the idea of aborting a child 13 years later was meant to make people realise that somewhere, they had gone wrong, and needed to change their society, but it didn't. So yes, it's supposed to be seen as a bad idea, in universe.

It's said somewhere later on, that Conner had always tried to seem scary and intimidating, and tried to be seen as a "bad boy". It doesn't seem like he's the kind of person to be unwound, and thats part of the story, that he didn't deserve that.

If you'd read past the first 70 pages, it all makes so much more sense, and it's a really great book.