NRL News
Page 6
May 2007
Volume 34
Issue 5

Abortions Continue to Decline in Wisconsin
By Dave Andrusko

The number of abortions in Wisconsin continues to decline, according to a report by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. Not only did the number drop from 9,817 in 2005 to 9,580 in 2006 (the third year in a row that the figure declined), this represents “the lowest recorded number of abortions in our state since 1974!” said an ecstatic Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.

“In addition, the abortion rate (the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age) remains at 8, which is one of the lowest abortion rates in the nation,” Lyons said. The national rate is nearly twice as large—15 per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Put into historical perspective, Lyons said, Wisconsin RTL “estimates that, cumulatively, 62,206 human lives have been saved in Wisconsin since 1987.”

Lyons offered a three-fold explanation for the decline in the number of abortions.

1. Younger people are far more pro-life than their predecessors.

2. Wisconsin Right to Life’s educational efforts are reaching millions of Wisconsin residents each year.

3. Pro-life public policies initiated by Wisconsin Right to Life have a dramatic impact on the abortion decline.

According to the Associated Press, Sue Armacost, legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, “singled out a 1996 law that requires women who are seeking an abortion to receive a variety of information about their pregnancy and wait at least 24 hours before the procedure can be done.”

“It is clear that the strategies of Wisconsin Right to Life are working,” said Lyons. “There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that thousands of babies have been spared a violent death from abortion. We commend our supporters and volunteers for their tremendous, selfless dedication which has so greatly contributed to the decline in abortion deaths.”