[An AP article published Dec. 19, 2005, indicates that more women who view their pregnancies as “unwanted” at the time of conception are changing their attitudes about their pre-born children and are giving birth instead of aborting. This, coupled with the latest statistics that indicate that the numbers of abortions are falling in the U.S. indicate, as we have been saying for almost two years, that there is a fundamental shift occurring in our nation’s attitude about abortion. Pro-lifers are winning the day!
The title of the article below is somewhat misleading because it erroneously indicates that the babies were unwanted at birth. It could have been more accurately titled: “Number of Babies Saved from Abortion is UP.” We doubt that any of the babies were actually unwanted at the time of birth. By then, the mothers’ attitudes about their babies had obviously changed.
We attribute this shift away from child-killing to primarily two developments: the advent of ultrasound imaging technology and the public use of graphic abortion images. Now, the average American is being exposed to both the reality of the humanity of the innocent child in the womb as well as the gruesome truth about what abortion does to that innocent child. This is making America more and more pro-life. As the societal attitudes continue to shift, the laws restoring legal protections to the pre-born are sure to follow.
The article also mentions that there is a decline in the number of abortionists in America. More and more abortionists are quitting — or having their licenses revoked, as we have reported recently — and few are taking their places. This is another victory for pro-lifers, whose prayers and hard work are paying off in the tangible dividends of closed abortion mills and saved babies.
Pro-lifers should be very encouraged by this news! -OR Staff]
Survey shows unwanted births up
MIKE STOBBE
Associated Press
December 19, 2005
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/13443359.htm
ATLANTA – More American women are having babies they didn’t want, a survey indicates, but federal researchers say they don’t know if that means attitudes about abortion are changing.
U.S. women of childbearing age who were surveyed in 2002 revealed that 14 percent of their recent births were unwanted at the time of conception, federal researchers said Monday.
In a similar 1995 survey, only 9 percent were unwanted at the time of conception.
At least one anti-abortion group said the numbers reflect a national “pro-life shift,” while others who research reproductive health issues suggested it might mean less access to abortion.
The latest findings are consistent with the falling rate of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group that researches reproductive health issues.
In 1995, for every 100 pregnancies that ended in abortion or a birth, almost 26 ended in abortion. In 2002, 24 ended in abortion, according to Guttmacher data.
That information seems to be in sync with the federal data released Monday, said Lawrence Finer, Guttmacher’s associate director for domestic research.
“The two statistics together suggest – but don’t confirm – that a greater percentage of unintended pregnancies resulted in births rather than abortions,” Finer said.
The Guttmacher Institute is nearly finished with a study of that question, but Finer declined to discuss the results before they’ve been published.
Others feel the link is clear-cut.
“I don’t think there’s any mystery here,” said Susan Wills, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The new data underscores that more women are turning away from abortions, even when it’s a pregnancy they don’t initially want, said Wills, associate director for education in the Conference’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.
“It shows a real pro-life shift,” she said.
More women may be carrying pregnancies to term because of increasing availability of ultrasounds and other information that show “it’s a baby from an early time,” Wills said.
Finer suggested the shift may reflect not only a diminishing demand for abortions, but also a decline in abortion providers, Finer said.
The number of U.S. abortion providers fell steadily in the last decade, from 2,400 in 1992 to 1,800 in 2000. The reason is not clearly known, although increasing government restrictions of abortions have made it increasingly difficult to provide the procedure, Finer said.
The new data on unwanted pregnancies was released by the National Center for Health Statistics, which surveyed 7,643 U.S. women on that and many other family planning and reproductive health questions in 2002 and early 2003. The surveyed women were between the ages of 15 and 44. Researchers only recently completed their analysis of survey questions.
Among the questions: “Right before you became pregnant, did you yourself want to have a baby at any time in the future?”
If they said no, the pregnancy was defined as “unwanted.” Pregnancies that occurred sooner than the woman wanted were instead classified as “mistimed,” said Anjani Chandra, lead author of the federal study.
Federal researchers don’t know if the survey reflects a societal shift in attitudes toward abortion, Chandra added. “People have all kinds of attitudes that don’t always reflect what they choose to do. We would never want to guess at people’s attitudes based on their behavior,” she said.
The proportion of unwanted births at time of conceptions was highest among girls under 18 – 25.4 percent. It was lowest among women 30 to 44 – 10.4 percent.
The proportion was higher for black women (26.2 percent) than for Hispanics (16.8 percent) and whites (10.7 percent).
Here are some other highlights from the new federal report:
More information: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
