North Carolina Abortion Rate Shows Steady Decline

By Liz Townsend

Between 1990 and 2000, the number of abortions in North Carolina declined steadily, dropping from 34,565 to 26,612, or 23 percent. Although experts could not point to a specific reason for the decrease, pro-lifers believe the statistics reflect a growing respect for human life in the state stemming from pro- life educational efforts, including passage of protective legislation.

"We like to think our educational efforts had some effect," Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life, told NRL News. "All the discussion about partial-birth abortion, the focus on just what happens during an abortion, has turned many minds toward the unborn child."

In a report released earlier this year by the State Center for Health Statistics (SCHS), there were steady declines in each measure of abortion frequency: actual numbers, the abortion rate and the abortion fraction (or ratio).

The abortion rate -- the number of induced abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age -- was 21.7 in 1990, declining to 15.1 in 2000. The abortion fraction -- the number of induced abortions per 1,000 reported pregnancies -- fell from 247.0 in 1990 to 181.9 in 2000.

Another contributing factor may be changes in the law. In 1995, the legislature passed a parental consent bill as well as legislation to tighten requirements for taxpayer-funded abortions.

Beginning in that year, the available money in the State Abortion Fund was reduced from $1.4 million to $50,000. In addition, North Carolina would only pay for abortions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

"Since then, the fund has been used very rarely, if ever," Holt said.

Pro-abortionists attempted to put a negative spin on the SCHS statistics, asserting that the decline was a result of decreasing access to abortion. Stanley Henshaw of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, told the Winston-Salem Journal that there are fewer abortion facilities in the state. "It makes it more difficult," Henshaw said. "Women have to travel. Access has been a big factor."

North Carolina pro-lifers will continue to educate people in their state about the humanity of the unborn child and about life-affirming alternatives to abortion. "We hope the numbers keep declining until all unborn children are safe in their mothers' wombs," Holt said.