The Associated Press reports that the number of abortions is down 5% nationwide. This good news is somewhat mitigated by the fact that there are still about 1 million abortions performed every year in the United States. We can be thankful for the small decrease in the number of abortions, but make no mistake. An incalculable human slaughter continues.
The report is quick to credit birth control use as a primary reason for the decrease in abortions, not the passage of recent laws restricting abortions. There’s no statistical evidence in the report to support this claim. Nevertheless, the author clearly suggests that laws restricting abortion are ineffective. This is a non sequitur that is undermined by the following paragraph from the report:
Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers, and has the nation’s highest teen birth rate. New York was highest, with abortion rates roughly eight times higher than Mississippi’s. New York is second only to California in number of abortion providers.
In other words, the state with the lowest abortion rate is the place that has limited access to legal abortions. The state with the highest abortion rate is the place with the second widest access to legal abortions. That means that increasing access correlates with increasing rates of abortion. Nevertheless, some people still wish to suggest that restricting access to abortion has no demonstrable effect on abortion rates. That argument seems pretty facile to me.
The report also notes, “The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus is about the size of a lima bean.” I think lines like this one are thrown in reports like this to give the impression that early abortions only involve the termination of a blob of cells. It is a subtle attempt to dehumanize the unborn. To put this false claim into perspective, keep in mind that an 8-week old fetus has a beating heart and looks something like the picture at top right. That’s what 8-weeks look like, and anyone with eyes can see that it’s a person. A very small person, but a person nonetheless.
Abortion is the greatest human rights crisis of our time. Roe v. Wade has presided over the legal killing of over 50 million unborn humans since 1973. As long as it is legal, the slaughter will continue. Don’t believe the facile arguments about the ineffectiveness of restricting access. And don’t believe the euphemizers who deny the humanity of the unborn by likening them to a lima bean. They are human beings, and their lives deserve to be protected in law just as much as yours or mine.
19 Comments
Paul Abella
Now if we could just get social conservatives to be concerned with children AFTER they’re born.
Kristin Richardson
Yes, Mississippi also has the highest poverty rate in the US.
Ray DeFrese
I personally know plenty who 1) have adopted and 2) are willing to adopt.
John Klink, Jr.
Paul, if you are suggesting that because those who oppose abortion must be wrong because we don’t support children in poor families after they’re born, then I have one question.
When did a poverty become the deciding factor in a person’s worth and value, and therefore their right to live?
Your assertion that we conservatives don’t care about the poor and uneducated, is itself uneducated. Social conservatives start programs and are very generous to fund such programs for those in need. Each year millions of dollars are raised for the World Hunger Fund of the SBC to feed children (and adults) in America and around the world. This is just one example, but many more could be listed.
Eitherway, neither poverty, nor riches, determine value of life.
Cristian Rata
Who says they aren’t? The liberal media? I am sure they are just as concerned with them after as they are before…
Nick Jones
Paul, that’s such a tired argument. Just because social conservatives don’t rely on government programs for children, especially the poor, does not mean that they are not concerned or actively helping in a plethora of ways.
Lily Jones
So you think Mississippi should be viewed as a GOOD example with how to deal with these issues? It is an absolute travesty that their children are not educated and are subjected to the inevitability of so many unplanned pregnancies. Shame on anyone who is for abstinence only education.
Scott McCauley
Denny,
The correlation that you point out between scarcity of abortion service providers and the abortion rate does not, by itself, imply a cause and effect in either direction. It could be that states with a lower abortion rate have fewer such service providers because of the lower demand for that service and not necessarily vice versa as you suggest. … Just sayin’. π
I agree with your summary, however. Abortion is indeed our greatest human rights crisis. We all need to continue to pray and speak up for the innocent unborn.
Don Johnson
Hello former fetuses about the size of a lima bean!
juliejames
I had my first ultrasound at 8 weeks and saw and very clear and distinct heartbeat. Today I have a four month baby. Back then I had an 8 week old baby. The only difference was her stage of human development, not whether or not she was human. I agree that abortion is one of the greatest human rights violations of our time. We do need to do more to help women and families in crisis situations (much more), but that does not have to conflict with supporting legislation to restrict abortions.
Les Prouty
This is great news. But I wonder…how many baby deaths are not being counted because a day afterpill is now being used. Does anyone know the stats on that?
Les Prouty
I meant morning after pill.
Kamilla Ludwig
Les,
Not only the morning after pill, but also the week after pill, etc.
Denny,
Do I really have to point out, again, that NO ONE knows if the number of abortions is going down because NO ONE is tracking medical abortions from Plan B, Ella, etc.?
Les Prouty
Thanks Kamilla, that is what I was getting at. I would guess that baby deaths have actually gone up via the use of abortifacients and will go even higher as Obamacare mandates they be paid for by virtually all employers.
Andrew Orlovsky
Wow, I thought it was the Republicans who were supposed to be racist. Why the liberals the ones complaining about all the poor black babies that are being born in the deep south. It actually very ironic because unlike the northern states, Mississippi is not aborting its future Democrats, and thats like going to cause the state to turn blue within a few years.
James Stanton
Andrew, I really want to understand your post. Could you rephrase it in a way that might make it more comprehensible? Thanks.
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lindaricke
You speak the truth, Denny. One of the things I fail to understand is that more and more technology proves that there is indeed life before birth. How can people continue to deny that the fetuses they abort are not people?
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