Continue declining abortion trend

Roy Rohn, 87, of Riverdale, Md., carries a cross that says "abort abortion" as pro-life supporters march toward the Supreme Court on the National Mall in Washington in January during the annual March for Life.
Roy Rohn, 87, of Riverdale, Md., carries a cross that says "abort abortion" as pro-life supporters march toward the Supreme Court on the National Mall in Washington in January during the annual March for Life.

A recent Associated Press survey finds that abortions have declined since 2010 in states both where there are restrictions on abortion services and where there are no restrictions.

What was left to read between the lines was that this drop took place during the presidency of strong abortion supporter Barack Obama. So, take that conservatives!

The full story is that abortions in the United States peaked in 1990 and have declined ever since, with the exceptions of the years 2006 and 2009, the latter Obama's first year in office.

Abortions, in truth, are declining for reasons given by both the left and the right.

The left is forced to walk quite a tightrope where the life-ending procedure is concerned. It can't pretend to be unhappy that abortions are down - how callous would the opposite position be? - but it still must defend its political position of abortion on demand.

So, what it must fall back on to explain the numbers is to blame the restrictions put on abortions in some states and to credit better, and more access to, contraception methods.

However, the first argument falls flat when figures show five of the six states with the biggest declines in abortions - Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Rhode Island and Connecticut - haven't passed any recent laws to restrict abortion clinics.

As to the second, Judy Tabar, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, attempted to give credit in the Associated Press report for lowered rates in Connecticut and Rhode Island to contraception methods covered by the Affordable Care Act, which was passed in March 2010.

But in Connecticut, abortion most recently began declining in 2007, three years before the act was passed, and declined even more quickly between 1991 and 1995. Similarly, in Rhode Island, abortion declined steeply between 1991 and 1995 and then saw another steep decline between 2008 and 2010.

To say better and more accessible contraception had nothing to do with it, though, would be unrealistic.

On the right, it would be truthful to say, in some instances, that hearts have been changed. Pro-life supporters, beginning 15 to 20 years ago, acknowledged that the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling on abortion wasn't going to be overturned anytime soon, so they switched tactics from picketing abortion clinics to changing individuals hearts.

And they've been assisted in that by newer and better sonogram technology. Even early in the pregnancy, parents now can see faces and have much better in utero views.

"There's an increased awareness," Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, told the Associated Press, "of the humanity of the baby before it is born."

Abortion restrictions - the abortion-supporting Guttmacher Institute counted 267 in 31 states since 2011 - also have helped but probably much less than detractors might suggest.

Various studies published in 2014 indicated a 3 to 7 percent drop in abortions by those seeking them when mothers are shown color photos of the baby's development and a 7 to 12 percent drop when the mother is required to have in-person counseling the day before the abortion is scheduled.

It's also been demonstrated that abortion restrictions that require safer settings for the procedure or admitting privileges for doctors at nearby hospitals have forced a number of clinics to upgrade or close. Some 70, in a dozen states, have closed since 2010.

What those restrictions also did was increase abortions in neighboring states. Indeed, the only states with significant abortion increases since 2010 are Louisiana and Michigan, which both have adjacent states (Texas and Ohio, respectively) with tighter abortion laws.

Abortions in Tennessee peaked in 1979. And while the state's drop of 13.3 percent between 2010 and 2013 is significant, its rate dropped 18.4 percent between 1990 and 1993.

Georgia's rate has been up and down since the U.S. rate began falling in 1990 and has seen several three-year periods where its rate has fallen more than the 3 percent it fell between 2010 and 2013. Alabama, similarly, had a healthy 17.8 percent drop between 2010 and 2013 but also several three-year periods where it bettered that mark since 1990.

Across the country, the years 2010-2013 do show a decline in abortions but not as steeply in previous years. So, it would be hard to conclude abortion restrictions passed by state governments during those years were responsible for the decline, and it would be just as inaccurate to give the credit to Affordable Care Act-provided contraception.

Both the left and right simply should applaud the trend and do what they can - in albeit different ways - to see that it continues.

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