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For immediate release: Thursday, October 21, 2004
For more information: Megan Dillon (202) 626-8825;
mediarelations@nrlc.org
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE RESPONDS TO
CLAIMS OF INCREASED ABORTIONS UNDER BUSH
An erroneous article that claims that abortions have increased under the
Bush Administration is appearing on the internet and in several newspapers.
This piece, written by Glen Stassen, the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of
Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California says
that while national statistics from 1990 to 2000 show abortion declining,
figures from 11 out of 16 states show an increase in abortion since Bush
took office.
“The data that we’ve seen from state health departments does not support
Stassen’s claims that abortions have increased under Bush,” stated Randall
K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., National Right to Life Education Director.
Professor Stassen relies heavily upon data from a limited number of states
as a representation of a supposed national trend. For example, he lists
South Dakota and Wisconsin as two places where abortions increased from 2001
to 2002. Figures from those state health departments show that abortions
decreased in both states during that time frame. Stassen also lists Illinois
as another state where abortions increased from 2001 to 2002. Illinois state
records do confirm a slight increase for 2002, but then a drop of 10% for
2003, yielding a net decrease, indicating that 2002 was probably just an
aberration in a long term downward trend.
“With those three states shifting from the increase to the decrease column,
Stassen’s claim that abortions have increased in 11 out of 16 states now
turns into a 8 to 8 tie, with as many states decreasing as increasing,” said
O’Bannon. “This is hardly anything definitive.”
Stassen reports increases in abortions in Colorado and Arizona but officials
from those states caution against using current statistics as evidence of
any real increase.
In Arizona, the state Department of Health Services stated in its report
that “It is unclear whether this increase in the number of reported
abortions represents a true increase in the actual number of abortions
performed, or, perhaps, as better response rate of providers of non-surgical
(so-called medical) terminations of pregnancy.”
State officials in Colorado, recently revamped their reporting regimen to
address underreporting, and sent a note to abortion providers reminding them
that reporting was required in Colorado. The state said they expected an
increase in reports, and declared, “No one could or should conclude that
this anticipated increase in the rate of reported terminations reflects an
increase in the true rate.”
After removing Arizona and Colorado, Stassen is left with abortion
decreasing in 8 states and increasing in only 6.
“It appears that Stassen had his conclusion in mind before he checked his
facts,” noted O’Bannon. “Though he identifies himself as ‘consistently
pro-life,’ Stassen fails to mention that he was one of the original
signatories of ‘A Call to Concern,’ a 1977 document that expressed support
for the Roe v. Wade decision and affirmed that ‘abortion in some instances
may be the most loving act possible.’”
Additionally, Stassen’s thesis that abortion increases can be linked to job
losses and other economic factors does not hold up to his own data.
Abortions in Illinois dropped substantially between 2002 and 2003, in spite
of its unemployment rate being stuck at 6.7% among the worst in the nation.
Ohio’s unemployment rate also rose, but abortions there declined. If the
economic determinism Stassen assumes was valid, those state results would be
reversed.
For more information, see
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/stassenpart1.html
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