why has the number of abortions gone down?

[pstokely]

is there better access to BC, are people becoming anti-choice or are they going to those phony fundy clinics that have little medical knowledge?

http://www.maggotpunks.com/headlines/2003-02-05.htm

[jackcgt]

1. Funny, I don't think people *become* anti-choice...

but rather they choose to be. Choosing against abortion is a choice whether you like it or not.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Abortion is no longer as accessible as it once was

Many clinics have closed; there are fewer doctors even going into ob/gyn, let alone doing abortions. Many hospitals and universities don't teach abortion. (Just one example: The University of Arizona Medical School no longer teaches abortion as part of a deal with a mega-buck$ donor who funded a new athletic facility in exchange for no abortion education.) Public assistance may not cover the cost for poor women. Insurance plans less often cover it, and fewer women have insurance.

Lotsa reasons. None of 'em good. It'd be nice to think it's because of greater availability (and appropriate use) of birth control or even better educated people engaging in sex, but not likely.

[ButterflyBlood]

3. more people turning anti-choice

partially due to the fundies recruiting well for their churches, but probably also because the new generation can't remember the days of backalley abortions (i wasn't born then either). I see quite a few more pro-life than pro-choice bumper stickers on campus, yet almost solidly liberal on other issues (pro-gay rights, anti-war, pro-seperation of church state and anti-Bush bumper stickers are very common). I actually saw a car today (driven by a female actually) with one that said "Without life there can be no choice" next to "Equal rights are not special rights", "no war with Iraq" and a picture of Bush captioned "moron" bumper stickers actually.

anyway i don't really see that as a problem since it's the person's choice not to have an abortion, but less and less clinics are offering them as are less medical education programs, which i do see as a problem.

[Fozzledick]

4. More condom use

Fear of AIDS.

[Merlin]

5. RU486. n/t

.

[mhr]

6. In Bad Times People Have Fewer Babies

How can anyone be interested in sex when most have a perpetual headache about their jobs and future. Not a good time to get pregnant or have kids.

[punpirate]

8. The Republicans are in...

... everywhere. Worrying about what Bush is going to do next is enough to kill a hard-on every time....

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Is it a coincidence or inevitable? Throngs of women in the

marched for abortion rights in the 1960's and 1970's and got it decriminalized. However, now a majority of the same demographic has reached menopause and abortion was no longer a personally imperative right. Where are these women now, protesting the state and federal attacks on the right to abortion? Why did they lose interest? And where are their daughters and granddaughters? Why don't they continue the debate?

I find this absence to be more disturbing that the perpetual attacks on abortion rights by the political opportunists and religious fundamentalists.

[SoCalDem]

9. As someone is that "age group", I'll weigh in here

A "fought-for" right does not always remain a right.. It slips away with time, and the ones who initially won it, cannot be expected to carry that baton all the way to the end of the race.. These are challenges that must constantly be renewed..

If the young women of today are not concerned about losing this right, then THEY will have to be the ones to pay the price for their lack of attention..

Women my age cannot really be expected to do it all.. We did it once, and now it's someone else's turn..

To continue the "debate" there actually has to BE a debate.. The methods of today are so different from back then.. People actually knew what debate was.. Now , a complex issue gets 30 second soundbytes and even then there are usually two or three people all talking at once and practically screaming at each other.. Everyone has their own ideas about issues like this, and no one can "change your mind"..

The only fair thing is to totally remove the issue from politics, and let it be back where it belongs.. But I know that will never happen.. :(

[libertad]

12. That is exactly what my mother said, she fought for it then and now

it is somebody else's turn. I don't think that is a good enough answer. You have to keep fighting or we will lose it!

[SoCalDem]

15. The ones who have to fight the hardest are the ones who

are of reproductive age.. We can support the effort,but the younger women cannot sit by and let others do it for them..

Remember too, that women my age are often working one or two jobs, taking care of elderly parents, AND grandchildren.. Some of us are doing more than our mothers ever did at the same age..:)

[maha]

17. I'm with you, sister.

Maybe some younger women need to lose reproduction rights to make them wake up.

[maha]

16. Dear, I'm post-menopausal.

I'm not going to get pregnant again. I'll continue to speak out for reproductive rights, but if young women don't want to work for their rights, why should I?

[July]

10. I don't think women who fought for choice are "absent"

They're leading the groups trying to preserve the right to abortion. Some of them run for office. Some are lawyers who defend those caught in anti-choice cases. Some write articles. Some (even today) counter-protest the cranks.

I'm not (quite) old enough to have marched, but I give money to organizations that are trying to keep abortion legal. I talk to people about the issue.

Don't forget that the women who worked for legal abortion are now in their fifties and older, and some of them have greater wealth and influence in the public sphere than they did back in the day. Some are using their money and jobs instead of their feet to keep abortion legal.

What's disturbing to ME is that you think an absence of protests by those who have supported abortion rights for decades is "more disturbing that the perpetual attacks on abortion rights by the political opportunists and religious fundamentalists." EXCUSE ME?!!!! Those POS's harass, intimidate, stalk, and threaten people providing or seeking abortion. Sometimes they even kill them. NO COMPARISON. Please.

[Iris]

11. Since the birth rate is lower,

I'd assume more people are educated about birth control.

The year after I graduated college, they started airing condom ads on MTV. It was a big deal then, but I hear ads for condoms on the radio all the time now (don't watch MTV). And, while the schools may be teaching abstinence, magazines geared towards young women are full of information about birth control, STDs, etc. The internet probably also offers a lot of information for those who bother to look.

[hippiechick]

13. and 'alternate' ways of gratification ...

...sad to say but one of the most popular methods of 'birth control' among high school and college aged kids nowadays is avoiding
'traditional' intercourse and instead having oral or anal.

i'm not saying there's anything wrong with one's personal choices, but engaging in extremely unsafe behavior as a way to 'circumvent the consequences' and still 'get some'? that's scary.

i do hope they are ALL using condoms.


:hippie:

[Maeve]

14. Much better birth control

And an increase in responsible sex. As noted by another, the birth rate is also down. Add in that the percentage of women in prime child-bearing years is lower and you get fewer abortions.