Why abortion rate is up in
Bush years
Chron.com
By GLEN HAROLD STASSEN and GARY KRANE
Oct. 17, 2004
I, Glen, 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. Gary Krane is an investigative journalist.
We look at the fruits of political policies more than words.
We analyzed the data on abortion during the Bush presidency.
There is no single source for this information -- federal reports
go only to the year 2000, and many states do not report -- but we
found enough data to identify trends. Our findings are
disturbing.
Abortion was decreasing. When President Bush took office, the
nation's abortion rates were at a 24-year low, after a 17.4
percent decline during the 1990s. This was a steady decrease
averaging 1.7 percent per year. (The data come from Minnesota
Citizens Concerned for Life using the Guttmacher Institute's
studies.)
Enter George W. Bush in 2001. One would expect the abortion
rate to continue its consistent course downward, if not plunge.
Instead, the opposite happened.
We found four states that have posted three-year statistics:
Kentucky's increased by 3.2 percent from 2000 to 2003. Michigan's
increased by 11.3 percent from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania's
increased by 1.9 percent from 1999 to 2002. Colorado's rates
skyrocketed 111 percent. We found 12 additional states that
reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an
increase in abortion rates (14.6 percent average increase), and
four saw a decrease (4.3 percent average).
Under Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates
appears to have reversed. Given the trends of the 1990s, 52,000
more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002 than would
have been expected before this change of direction.
For anyone familiar with why most women have abortions, this
is no surprise:
Two-thirds of women who have abortions cite "inability to
afford a child" as their primary reason (Minnesota Citizens
Concerned for Life). In the Bush presidency, unemployment rates
increased half again. Not since Herbert Hoover had there been a
net loss of jobs during a presidency until the current
administration. Average real incomes decreased, and for seven
years the minimum wage has not been raised to match inflation.
With less income, many prospective mothers fear another mouth to
feed.
Half of all women who abort say they do not have a reliable
mate. And men who are jobless usually do not marry. In the 16
states, there were 16,392 fewer marriages than the year before,
and 7,869 more abortions. As male unemployment increases,
marriages fall and abortion rises.
Women worry about health care for themselves and their
children. Since 5.2 million more people have no health insurance
now than before this presidency -- with women of childbearing age
overrepresented in those 5.2 million -- abortion increases.
My wife and I know -- as does my son David -- that doctors,
nurses, hospitals, medical insurance, special schooling and
parental employment are crucial for a special child. David
attended the Kentucky School for the Blind, as well as schools
for children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. He was
mainstreamed in public schools as well. We have two other sons
and five grandchildren, and we know that every mother, every
father and every child needs public and family support.
What does this tell us? Economic policy and abortion are not
separate issues; they form one moral imperative. Rhetoric is
hollow, mere tinkling brass, without health care, insurance,
jobs, child care and a living wage. Pro-life in deed, not merely
in word, means we need a president who will do something about
jobs, health insurance and support for mothers.
Glen Stassen is the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian
Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, Calif. He can
be e-mailed at gstassen@fuller.edu.
Krane is an independent investigative journalist in
Philadelphia.Readers can write to him at 151 Tulpehocken,
Philadelphia, PA 19144 or Coordinator@FairElections.us.
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