New Data Shows Abortion Quite Common In Most Red States

[ensho]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/shocked--or-not-new-data_b_374210.html


No matter how you feel about the pro-choice/anti-choice issue, it's always been difficult to examine data on the number of legal abortions in the U.S. on a state-by-state level. Now The Guardian newspaper's DataBlog has performed a real service in pulling together the latest numbers (from 2005) on the number of abortions state-by-state.

They both confirm certain things you might expect (abortions tend to happen more often in big, blue states) but also prove surprising (the large number of red states where anti-choice is strongest but where the abortion procedure, it turns out, is quite common).

Then there is this number: 233. That's the number of abortions per 1,000 live births. That high number may surprise quite a few people. I suppose it will confirm for the anti-choice side that the procedure is out of control -- as the "religious right" just today made new moves in Washington -- while to others indicating that is too widespread to be denied without massive repercussions.

Even in small, conservative, allegedly anti-choice Kansas, for example, there were over 10,000 legal abortions in 2005. In deep-red Utah, which had a relatively low rate, there were over 3500 in that one year, or about 10 per day.

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These red or reddish states have high numbers for frequency of abortion, just under the national "233/1000" average: Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas.

Right at or above the norm: Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, N. Carolina, Virginia.

The smaller, redder states also tend to have the highest percentage of mothers under the age of 19 electing to have abortions. Among the leaders: Montana, Alaska, North Dakota. Vermont.

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Today, a protester threw a film box at Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who was discussing being banned from taking communion because of his views on abortion.
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this info should be spread far and wide and stuffed up the noses of the repugs. that are for forced pregnancies

[Demoiselle]

1. Since when are Maine and Vermont "red" states? Or even "reddish?" Just asking.

[ensho]

2. kicking for Wed. readers

nt

[hfojvt]

3. again, that is a really dumb argument

Take Kansas,

please.

First of all, there are over 400,000 Democrats in Kansas. Not registered Democrats, but voters who almost always vote for a Democrat. In 2008, Democrat Jim Slattery got 441,399 votes for Senate, and Obama got 514,765. In 2004, Kerry got 434,993 votes. In 2000, Gore got 399,276 and Nader got 36,086. In 1996, Clinton got 387,659 votes and Perot got 92,639 running against Kansas' own Bob Dole!

Isn't it fairly easy for 400,000 people to account for 10,000 abortions? Also with Kansas was the fact that a few people were coming from out of state to get late term abortions that Tiller was one of the few offering that service.

Blue staters often seem to over-estimate the redness of a red state. We are not as red as Washington DC is blue.

[Neecy]

4. so you're saying only Democrats in KS get abortions?

I agree that the numbers are inflated because many people came from out of state for Dr. Tiller's clinic, but I can promise you that the numbers aren't entirely made up of Democrats.

[hfojvt]

5. the point is that you do not know

one in five Kansas pregnancies ends in an abortion, but 2 in 5 Kansans are Democrats. There clearly are sufficient Democrats to account for all abortions, especially when the score is 400,000+ to 10,000. Thus, the case for hypocrisy clearly has not been made.

[Neecy]

6. I'd need to see a county-by-county breakdown

The number of registered Democrats is disproportionately skewed by Johnson County. In my Kansas county, the number of registered democrats is not even close to 2 in 5, and I would guess it wouldn't be in other rural counties either. Abortions aren't widely advertised here, but they do happen. Many hypocrisies abound in my little corner of Jesus-land.

[hfojvt]

7. JoCo? JoCo?

What about the dotte? Democrats rule in the Dotte. And Shawnee? And Pittsburg? and Douglas?

Anyway, I am not going by 'registered' Democrats, which is a much smaller number, but by actual votes, which are consistently over 400,000. Most of them are perhaps from KCK, but then again, so are most of the people. (and probably most of the abortions - is there even a clinic in Hays or Salina or Dodge City?)