|
WORD COUNT
606
OCTOBER 20, 2004
ABORTIONS – ON THE RISE
UNDER BUSH – by Glen Harold Stassen and Gary Krane
Our family is pro-life,
not surprising for a Christian ethicist. We have our son David to show for
it, the joy of our lives, but legally blind and severely handicapped. We
went ahead with his pregnancy even though my wife caught rubella in her
eighth week.
Others who profess to be
pro-life have less to show. Take George W. Bush. An analysis of the somewhat
sparse data from his presidency has uncovered some disturbing and
counterintuitive trends.
In the 1990s, the decade
before Mr. Bush became president, abortions were decreasing in the United
States. According to Guttmacher Institute data, the number per year fell
from 1,610,000 to 1,330,000. That is a decline of 17.4 percent over the
decade, or an average of 1.7 percent per year.
With the arrival of Mr.
Bush in 2001, one would expect the abortion rate to continue its consistent
course downward, if not plunge. Instead, the opposite happened.
Four states have
conveniently posted several years of recent statistics, from around 2000
through 2003. Here's what happened to their abortion rates:
Kentucky's
increased by 3.2 percent, Pennsylvania's increased by 1.9 percent (1999 to
2002, with 2003 not yet available), Michigan's increased by 11.3 percent,
and Colorado's rates skyrocketed 111 percent.
Twelve other states
reported statistics allowing comparison of abortion rates in 2001 and 2002.
Here's what happened to them. Seven saw a percentage increase: Arizona
(+26.4), Idaho (+13.9), Illinois (+0.9), Missouri (+2.5), South Dakota
(+2.1), Texas (+3.0), and Wisconsin (+0.6). Five states saw a decrease:
Alabama (-9.8), Florida (-0.7), Minnesota (-4.4), Ohio (-4.4), and
Washington (-2.1).
In total numbers, 7,869
more abortions were performed in these sixteen states during George W.
Bush's second year in office than previously. If this trend reflects our
nation, 24,000 more abortions were performed during George W. Bush's second
year in office than the year before. Had the previous trends continued,
28,000 fewer abortions should have occurred each year in that time. All in
all, at least 52,000 more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002
than expected from the earlier trends. And the figure is likely two to three
times that for the entire period from 2000 to 2003.
For anyone familiar with
why most women have abortions, this should come as no surprise:
1)
Two-thirds
of women who have abortions cite "inability to afford a child" as their
primary reason [Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI)]. With record job losses
under this presidency (the worst since Herbert Hoover), and a decrease in
average real incomes, women have a harder time affording a child, and so do
their male partners or husbands.
2)
Others have
lost their health coverage -- 5.2 million overall -- with women of
childbearing age being over-represented. That means no hospital, no
obstetrician, no pediatrician. Mothers think of such things when they decide
whether to have an abortion.
And if all this is not
bad enough, as a result of the Mr. Bush’s anti-contraceptive family planning
policies, and the consequent cutback in funding for condom distribution to
African nations, this presidency has contributed to a situation where the
average sub-Saharan African male now has only three condoms per year!
According to AGI, these cutbacks have been responsible for at least 12
million more unintended pregnancies, and at least 6 million more abortions
around the world.
What does this tell us?
Economic policy and abortion are not separate issues; they form one moral
imperative. Rhetoric is hollow, mere tinkling brass, without healthcare,
health insurance, jobs, childcare, and a living wage. Pro-life in deed, not
merely in word, means we need a president who will do something about jobs
and health insurance and support for prospective mothers.
--
Glen Harold Stassen, PhD,
is Lewis B. Smeads Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological
Seminary and a statistical analyst.
gstassen@fuller.edu -- Gary Krane, PhD, is an investigative journalist.
coordinator@fairelections.us
-- 415-845-7012.
# # # # # |
