Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
U.S. abortion rate drops to lowest level since Roe v. Wade
4 views
Skip to first unread message
Leroy N. Soetoro
Jan 18, 2017, 12:50:08 AM1/18/17
to
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/01/17/us-abortion-rate-
drops-lowest-level-since-roe-v-wade/96668290/
The abortion rate in the U.S. has dipped to its lowest level since the
Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure
nationwide, a survey released Tuesday finds.
The abortion rate in 2014 was 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to
44, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group
that backs abortion rights. In 1973, the year of the historic Roe v. Wade
decision, the rate was 16.3.
The 2014 figure was also down 14% from the 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women
reported in a 2011 Guttmacher survey. About 926,200 abortions were
performed nationwide in 2014, the report found, compared with 1.06 million
abortions in 2011.
The survey comes three days before Donald Trump, an avowed abortion
opponent, is inaugurated the nation’s 45th president. The results also
land 10 days before Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, speaks at the
44th annual March for Life on Jan. 27. Abortion rights advocates are
concerned because Trump will be nominating a justice to replace the late
Antonin Scalia, and some fear the 7-2 Roe v. Wade decision could be at
risk.
Better birth control is a key to the declining number of abortions, says
Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute. "The
primary driver behind the decline was most likely improved contraceptive
use, which leads to fewer unintended pregnancies," she says. "This is good
news because it suggests women are increasingly able to access the
resources they need to plan their families and avoid unintended
pregnancy."
For abortion opponents, the numbers indicate a different benchmark, says
Randall O'Bannon, director of education and research for the National
Right to Life Educational Trust Fund. "Though we've still quite a ways to
go to restoring full legal and moral respect for the unborn, this is a
critical milestone, getting below 1 million abortions for the first time
since 1975."
Beyond contraception and laws limiting abortion access, O'Bannon says his
group believes a societal shift may be in play. "One element that may not
be getting its due is the increasing sense among Americans that abortion
is a no real solution for mothers, for their babies, or for society in
general."
During a presidential debate this fall, Trump, who has called himself
“pro-life,” said that if Roe is overturned, states will have the right to
weigh the legality of abortion as they did before the Supreme Court
decision.
However, the question of whether Roe could really be reversed has been up
for debate. Even with Scalia's replacement, the court could remain one or
even two votes shy of a majority to overturn the 44-year-old precedent.
In June, the court delivered its most consequential ruling on abortion in
years, striking down restrictions on Texas clinics and doctors that
threatened to prevent thousands of women from obtaining abortions. The
court ruled 5-3 that a Texas law imposed undue hardships on women without
sufficient health benefits. The restrictions threatened to close all but
nine clinics and could have left the state unable to handle an estimated
65,000 to 70,000 abortions a year.
Donovan acknowledges that state abortion restrictions may have played a
role in the survey's findings. Such restrictions include parental
notification laws, 24-hour waiting periods and bans on abortions after six
or 12 weeks.
"Between 2011 and 2014, over 200 abortion restrictions were passed in the
states, an unprecedented attack on abortion rights following the 2010
midterm elections," she says. She singles out what are known as TRAP
(targeted regulation of abortion provider) laws — standards abortion
rights advocates say are arbitrary and aimed at closing abortion clinics.
But she notes that 28 states and Washington, D.C., did not have new
abortion restrictions in place "and together they account for 62% of the
decline" in the findings. "This indicates that something else is driving
the decline, and the most likely explanation is improved contraceptive
use."
Both abortion rights supporters and abortion foes are girding for a new
administration — and potential new battlegrounds.
"Our hope for President-elect Trump is that he will appoint pro-life
judges, and that the Congress will pass and the courts will approve
measures that offer greater protection to the unborn and will reduce these
numbers even further," National Right to Life President Carol Tobias says.
Donovan says abortion rights groups are prepping for a reality in which
abortion and contraception are harder to access. "Rolling back policies
that allow women to manage their reproductive health will have profound
consequences, especially for low-income women, women of color and young
people," Donovan says.
She notes that an earlier institute study found 75% of abortion patients
in 2014 were low-income. In addition to cost barriers, these women can
have a harder time overcoming associated obstacles when seeking an
abortion: leave from work, child care, travel arrangements. "For women who
are already struggling to get by, accessing abortion services can be
particularly challenging," she says.
Other highlights of the report released Tuesday:
• 19% of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) in 2014 ended in abortion.
• More than half of all U.S. abortion patients in 2014 were in their 20s;
12% were adolescents.
• Whites accounted for 39% of abortion procedures in 2014; blacks 28%;
Hispanics 25%; other races and ethnicities 9%.
• The number of clinics providing abortion services declined 6% — from 839
to 788 — from 2011 to 2014.
Contributing: Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
His Omnipotence Barack Hussein Obama, declared himself "Pooptator" of all
mentally ill homosexuals and crossdressers, while declaring where they
will defecate.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth
certificate.
drops-lowest-level-since-roe-v-wade/96668290/
The abortion rate in the U.S. has dipped to its lowest level since the
Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure
nationwide, a survey released Tuesday finds.
The abortion rate in 2014 was 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to
44, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group
that backs abortion rights. In 1973, the year of the historic Roe v. Wade
decision, the rate was 16.3.
The 2014 figure was also down 14% from the 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women
reported in a 2011 Guttmacher survey. About 926,200 abortions were
performed nationwide in 2014, the report found, compared with 1.06 million
abortions in 2011.
The survey comes three days before Donald Trump, an avowed abortion
opponent, is inaugurated the nation’s 45th president. The results also
land 10 days before Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, speaks at the
44th annual March for Life on Jan. 27. Abortion rights advocates are
concerned because Trump will be nominating a justice to replace the late
Antonin Scalia, and some fear the 7-2 Roe v. Wade decision could be at
risk.
Better birth control is a key to the declining number of abortions, says
Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute. "The
primary driver behind the decline was most likely improved contraceptive
use, which leads to fewer unintended pregnancies," she says. "This is good
news because it suggests women are increasingly able to access the
resources they need to plan their families and avoid unintended
pregnancy."
For abortion opponents, the numbers indicate a different benchmark, says
Randall O'Bannon, director of education and research for the National
Right to Life Educational Trust Fund. "Though we've still quite a ways to
go to restoring full legal and moral respect for the unborn, this is a
critical milestone, getting below 1 million abortions for the first time
since 1975."
Beyond contraception and laws limiting abortion access, O'Bannon says his
group believes a societal shift may be in play. "One element that may not
be getting its due is the increasing sense among Americans that abortion
is a no real solution for mothers, for their babies, or for society in
general."
During a presidential debate this fall, Trump, who has called himself
“pro-life,” said that if Roe is overturned, states will have the right to
weigh the legality of abortion as they did before the Supreme Court
decision.
However, the question of whether Roe could really be reversed has been up
for debate. Even with Scalia's replacement, the court could remain one or
even two votes shy of a majority to overturn the 44-year-old precedent.
In June, the court delivered its most consequential ruling on abortion in
years, striking down restrictions on Texas clinics and doctors that
threatened to prevent thousands of women from obtaining abortions. The
court ruled 5-3 that a Texas law imposed undue hardships on women without
sufficient health benefits. The restrictions threatened to close all but
nine clinics and could have left the state unable to handle an estimated
65,000 to 70,000 abortions a year.
Donovan acknowledges that state abortion restrictions may have played a
role in the survey's findings. Such restrictions include parental
notification laws, 24-hour waiting periods and bans on abortions after six
or 12 weeks.
"Between 2011 and 2014, over 200 abortion restrictions were passed in the
states, an unprecedented attack on abortion rights following the 2010
midterm elections," she says. She singles out what are known as TRAP
(targeted regulation of abortion provider) laws — standards abortion
rights advocates say are arbitrary and aimed at closing abortion clinics.
But she notes that 28 states and Washington, D.C., did not have new
abortion restrictions in place "and together they account for 62% of the
decline" in the findings. "This indicates that something else is driving
the decline, and the most likely explanation is improved contraceptive
use."
Both abortion rights supporters and abortion foes are girding for a new
administration — and potential new battlegrounds.
"Our hope for President-elect Trump is that he will appoint pro-life
judges, and that the Congress will pass and the courts will approve
measures that offer greater protection to the unborn and will reduce these
numbers even further," National Right to Life President Carol Tobias says.
Donovan says abortion rights groups are prepping for a reality in which
abortion and contraception are harder to access. "Rolling back policies
that allow women to manage their reproductive health will have profound
consequences, especially for low-income women, women of color and young
people," Donovan says.
She notes that an earlier institute study found 75% of abortion patients
in 2014 were low-income. In addition to cost barriers, these women can
have a harder time overcoming associated obstacles when seeking an
abortion: leave from work, child care, travel arrangements. "For women who
are already struggling to get by, accessing abortion services can be
particularly challenging," she says.
Other highlights of the report released Tuesday:
• 19% of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) in 2014 ended in abortion.
• More than half of all U.S. abortion patients in 2014 were in their 20s;
12% were adolescents.
• Whites accounted for 39% of abortion procedures in 2014; blacks 28%;
Hispanics 25%; other races and ethnicities 9%.
• The number of clinics providing abortion services declined 6% — from 839
to 788 — from 2011 to 2014.
Contributing: Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
His Omnipotence Barack Hussein Obama, declared himself "Pooptator" of all
mentally ill homosexuals and crossdressers, while declaring where they
will defecate.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth
certificate.
0 new messages