Who says we can't win the culture wars?
Just days before the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we have a new report from the Guttmacher Institute that says the U.S. abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1974. Despite fairly widespread access to the new abortion drug RU-486, the rate now stands at 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women age 15-44 in 2005, down from a high of 29.3 per thousand in 1981. The number of abortions is also down, from 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2005 (the last year for which data are available).
While pro-choice advocates point to a lack of access to abortion providers and the success of comprehensive sex-ed programs as factors in the decline, pro-lifers say state laws have made a difference.
Bill Beckman, director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee, said he sees the national decline in abortion numbers as a victory for anti-abortion efforts.
"A number of states over the last five or six years have enhanced their pro-life laws, such as requirements for informed consent and parental notice," said Beckman. "When those laws take effect, the rate of abortion drops. I think the data they're getting is reflecting that change."
While I'm looking forward to a thorough analysis of the numbers, the answer is probably both/and rather than either/or. I believe that cultural attitudes also are changing, thanks to the persistent efforts (such as the spread of ultrasound machines) of pro-lifers to keep before the American people the undeniable fact that every abortion ends a human life. And these efforts must be working, if even pro-choicer Hillary Clinton concedes that abortion is a "tragic choice."
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Guttmacher study comes on the heels of news that the birth rate is unexpectedly booming in the United States.
An Associated Press review of birth numbers dating to 1909 found the total number of U.S. births was the highest since 1961, near the end of the baby boom. An examination of global data also shows that the United States has a higher fertility rate than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan. ...
Experts believe there is a mix of reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.
There are cultural reasons as well. Hispanics as a group have higher fertility rates — about 40 percent higher than the U.S. overall. And experts say Americans, especially those in middle America, view children more favorably than people in many other Westernized countries.
"Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, `Let's have another kid,'" said Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University.
Posted by Stan Guthrie on January 17, 2008 9:05AM
Comments
So-called "pro-choicers" do not advocate the choice of life for the unborn. Let's not be so generous in characterizing their position.
Bravo to the Ultrasound Project promoted by Focus on the Family! They are the unsung heroes along with thousands of pro-life pregnancy resource center volunteers. Keep up the tremendous work!
Let's continue the good fight and pressure with more "Forty Days for Life" prayer vigils!
Posted by: JC at January 18, 2008
Sorry Stan - Even though abortion stats have improved and that is reason to celebrate - even though I'm more in the "pro-choice" corner. Abortion rates are down, but sexual activity even among "evangelical teens" is up. Seems to me this victory is due more to heightened awareness of how not to get pregnant than it is a victory for a more moral sexual ethic. Michael
Posted by: Michael Rucker at January 18, 2008
You are a bit premature in attributing the drop to a victory in your "culture wars." Previous studies by the Guttmacher Institute suggest that as much as 42% of the drop in abortions is attributable to emergency contraception (EC) such as Plan B (morning after pill) or post-coital IUD insertion. Such methods are not technically considered to be abortion. If you are to credit abstinence programs for the drop, you should explain why abortion rates are lower in Western Europe, where comprehensive sex education is the norm.
Posted by: ex-preacher at January 18, 2008
I find the entire discussion of sexuality to be immature and unrealistic in this country. Are conservative Christians really expecting young people to abstain from sex until they are married when the average marriage ages for men and women are now 27 and 25, respectively? Abstaining from sex might not have been that hard a century ago or more when people got married when they were 15 (1 to 2 years after puberty compared to 10 to 12 now). For me the entire discourse needs to shift more to responsible relationships, including responsible sex. Sexuality is the most powerful form of energy that humans possess, and I think it's extremely naive to think that this energy can be repressed for 10-15 years of a young person's life.
Posted by: Paul at January 19, 2008
All this hype on the drop in abortion rate, well, I guess all the education on a fetus has turned some out of guilt, away, but they have them take them home and abuse and neglect them or they are born drug addicts or are pimped out or,,well I could go on to the wonderful life that these unaborted babies and you can't save them and they spend a miserable life trying to survive physically and mentally and fall through the cracks,.,..where is the love for "life" then until you prosecute the parents for torture and murder when they spend years in it...I am pro-choice because I would rather see them go home to heaven right then , then to go home and spend years and years abused and neglected because they really weren't wanted...Child abuse is up...
Posted by: Brenda at January 19, 2008
Reducing abortions should be a goal for all of us, whether pro-choice or pro-life. Many pro-choice institutions and individuals engage in rigorous efforts that reduce the number of abortions, including sex education, counseling and social programs to help the poor (while at the same time asserting that women should have the right to choose, and should have access to safe care).
So I think it is premature for the pro-life camp to assume that the overall reduction is primarily due to pro-life efforts. My suspicion is that socio-economic and technological (new contraceptives) factors have the biggest impact, but this is only my intuition.
Posted by: Nat at January 19, 2008
Paul, plenty of people abstain from sex until marriage. And people did not routinely marry at the age of 15 a century ago. We do teens a disservice by telling them they just can't help themselves so here's a condom. Of course, those of us who are pro-life would rather see people use contraception than have an abortion or an unwanted child. But the downside of unmarried sex is greater than just the risk of an unwanted pregnancy.
Posted by: Chris at January 21, 2008
Are miscarriages and spontaneous abortions performed by Jehovah? Or by the Devil? Or by Lilith? What did Jesus mean when he said that it would have been better that his betrayer was never born? Was Jesus advocating abortion? Why did Jesus say "born" instead of "conceived"?
Posted by: Thane of Towson at August 25, 2008
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