Bush Said in SOTU that abortions have decreased in his term

[usregimechange]

is that not completely untrue?

[Idioteque]

1. I don't think he said "in my term". I think he said "in the last x years."

Taking credit for the Clinton economy.

[annabanana]

11. "the last 12 years" - fer sure taking credit for Clinton's #'s. . . .n/t

[TheWraith]

2. If that's what he said, yeah, it's pretty much completely false.

I didn't watch, so I don't know the exact language, or how much of the Clinton era he's taking credit for. But yeah, if he said that it was during his term, he's lying through his teeth.

[Coexist]

6. because they are harder to get - illegal abortions are on the rise

http://www.alternet.org/rights/31199/
<snip>
Why is all this happening when abortion is still legal? Though the cost of abortion has remained remarkably flat since Roe -- the cost of a first-trimester abortion at Jen's clinic is $380, actually less than it was 20 years ago, adjusting for inflation -- it's still too much for a woman who, as she puts it, "is on assistance, has two or three kids already and has no money whatsoever." Teenagers in the state where Jen works also need parental consent before they can have an abortion. And for many teens and adult women alike, the overwhelming culture of shame that hovers around abortion prevents many from going to a clinic.

The physical tragedies we are witnessing due to the return of illegal abortion are compounded by the social ones. Recently, two teenage couples, one in Michigan and the other in Texas, faced unwanted pregnancies. Both states have parental consent provisions; in both cases, the young couples received misleading information (in one instance from an anti-abortion "Crisis Pregnancy Center;" in the other, from a private physician's office) about how to obtain a legal abortion. In Michigan, the young man, with his girlfriend's approval, hit her abdomen repeatedly with a baseball bat until she miscarried; in Texas, again with the girlfriend's consent, the male stomped on his girlfriend's belly, producing a stillbirth of twins. Both young men were arrested, and the Texan, Geraldo Flores, is now serving a life sentence for fetal homicide.

[uppityperson]

3. per WH release, dozen yrs in a row, here's the text

"In recent years, America has become a more hopeful nation. Violent crime rates have fallen to their lowest levels since the 1970s. Welfare cases have dropped by more than half over the past decade. Drug use among youth is down 19 percent since 2001. There are fewer abortions in America than at any point in the last three decades, and the number of children born to teenage mothers has been falling for a dozen years in a row." http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060131-10.html

[Mr Rabble]

4. The last years stats I have found are 2000.

Does anyone have a running tally of abortion stats up to and including 2004/5?

[sandnsea]

12. CDC site?

That's what I found last night too. The only thing I found going into 2002 was pregnancy rates, with a downward trend starting back in the mid-nineties.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Found this in the transcript;

"There are fewer abortions in America than at any point in the last three decades,..."

I haven't researched this to find out if his info is correct, but that is what he said.

[Caution]

7. If true, do you think it might be due to increased use of birth control?

i think it might

:sarcasm:

[malachi]

14. I think it's due to the increase in exposure of the monkey. Many people

may be afraid that they might spawn something as fucked up as the chimp and are being extra careful with regards to childbearing.

[uppityperson]

8. Alan Guttmacher Institute has info

Bunch of info on abortion:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

http://www.agi-usa.org/sections/abortion.php?scope=U.S.%20specific
Also say access to plan b/morning after pill has helped, as well as lots of other information.

[sandnsea]

13. Condoms & STD's too probably

Pregnancies have dropped too, the morning after pill and increased use of condoms would probably account for that too. They're trying to say it's teens choosing to have sex later.

[applegrove]

9. Remember than there are fewer young people. More retirees.

[applegrove]

10. He also said that democracies increased by 110 - since 1945. Nothing

to do with him or the neocons either.

[McCamy Taylor]

15. Everything was in the last decade. Taking credit for Clinton.