The abortion statistics in New York City are improving slightly but 40 percent of all pregnancies in the Big Apple still end in an abortion of a little baby boy or girl.
The Chiaroscuro Foundation, which tracks abortion figures in New York City, says discernable progress is being made on the ratio of abortions to live births, according to its analysis of new city health department figures from 2011. However, it warns that progress could easily be reversed if Governor Cuomo forces through an abortion expansion measure in Albany that could drive abortion rates higher.
While the city remained the abortion capital of America in 2011, with abortion ratios almost twice the national average (the national average was 22% in 2008), the ratio of live births to abortions citywide in 2011 fell below 40% (39.55%) for the first time since 1970, when abortion was legalized in New York.
The foundation says Bronx continues to lead the city in percentage of abortions to live births at 47.97%, and Staten Island women terminated pregnancies the least often at 29.89%.
The abortion industry in New York City continues to prey on lower-income black women as almost 58 percent of abortions end in abortion for black women and children. The ratio of abortions for African-American women remained demographically highest in the city in 2011 while Asian and Pacific Island women had the lowest ratio at 18.2%.
“New York City has one of the highest abortion rates in America, but progress is slowly being made,” said Greg Pfundstein, president of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “It is all the more alarming then that Governor Cuomo is talking about measures in Albany, like allowing non-physicians to perform abortions, that would dramatically increase the number of abortions in the state. Polling clearly shows that New Yorkers think there are too many abortions as it is, and we hope Governor Cuomo is beginning to hear that message.”
In the midst of the overall progress, the number of late term abortions after 21 weeks reached a reached a ten year high as a percentage of the total number of pregnancies, he said.
Of the 203, 514 viable pregnancies in New York City in 2011, 80,485 were terminated by abortion. 2,085, or 2.59%, of the abortions performed in the City in 2011 were performed at gestational ages of 21 weeks or later.
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“Gov. Cuomo’s effort to expand late term abortions will certainly drive this number higher in the coming years if he forces through his abortion expansion effort,” Pfundstein said. “ At a time when medical advances have enabled doctors to save younger and younger preterm babies, the Governor’s effort to increase the number of late term abortions in unconscionable.”
City abortion data from 1994-2011, broken down by borough and ethnicity, is available here. Recent statewide polling on the issue is available here, and a comprehensive 2010 citywide survey on abortion attitudes is available here.
