Abortion stats since Bush took office

[Zang]

Editorial from a pro-lifer bemoaning his research into abortion statistics between Clinton and Dubya.
Then he goes into thoughtful reasons on why the difference is so high.

And those reasons are mighty sad...

(link via Metafilter.com)

Dr. Glen Stassen is the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and the co-author of Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, Christianity Today's Book of the Year in theology or ethics.

(Article begins)
I am a Christian ethicist, and trained in statistical analysis. I am consistently pro-life. My son David is one witness. For my family, "pro-life" is personal. My wife caught rubella in the eighth week of her pregnancy. We decided not to terminate, to love and raise our baby. David is legally blind and severely handicapped; he also is a blessing to us and to the world.

I look at the fruits of political policies more than words. I analyzed the data on abortion during the George W. Bush presidency. There is no single source for this information - federal reports go only to 2000, and many states do not report - but I found enough data to identify trends. My findings are counterintuitive and disturbing.

Abortion was decreasing. When President Bush took office, the nation's abortion rates were at a 24-year low, after a 17.4% decline during the 1990s. This was an average decrease of 1.7% per year, mostly during the latter part of the decade. (This data comes from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life using the Guttmacher Institute's studies).

Enter George W. Bush in 2001...

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=041013#5">http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=041013#5

[Demit]

1. just got to your thread. Thanks! Very thoughtful assessment by Dr Stassen

[PaulaFarrell]

2. funny, he doesn't mention *'s stance on abstinence

hasn't * tried to interfere with orgs that give contraceptive advice other than 'just don't have sex'? I don't know why it's counter-intuitive that if you stop helping people avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place, they have more abortions. Seems pretty obvious to me. There's also a thread here somewhere saying pharmacists can now refuse to give out contraception including morning-after pill if they 'conscience' won't allow it. Some conscience.

[Catfight]

3. This totally shocked me, how hypocritical can they GET?

So can we officially blame Clinton for lowering the abortion rate now? Or will that somehow be spun into a BAD thing?

[Moderator]

4. Please continue discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x78993