The abortion rates in Iowa are dropping as more women receive access to life-affirming education and support for themselves and their babies.
A new report from the Iowa Department of Public Health shows that abortions dropped from 5,399 in 2010 to 4,020 in 2014, Iowa Watch reports. That represents more than 1,379 babies saved. The ratio of abortions to births also shows a significant drop, from 16 abortions for every 100 births in 2006-2008, to 10 abortions for every 100 births in 2014, according to the Iowa data.
The data is an encouraging sign that abortion activists’ attempts to expand abortion through dangerous telemedicine abortions have not been effective. Iowa has been one of Planned Parenthood’s test markets for the dangerous procedure. A telemedicine abortion is when a woman is prescribed drugs that induce an abortion without seeing a doctor in person.
Iowa mom Jocelyn Fry told the news outlet that she had an abortion in 2004 when she was 20 years old, homeless and unmarried. She said she already had a child, and her boyfriend was pressuring her to have an abortion.
“I didn’t find it to be difficult whatsoever in terms of access,” Fry said. “I was well acquainted with Planned Parenthood by being a gynecologist client previously.”
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Fry later had a change of heart, and today she volunteers with Iowa Right to Life. She also is a pro-life speaker who works to educate Iowans about the true nature of abortion. It’s an education that she said she never received when she had her abortion in 2004.
“The biggest regret that I had in regards to my abortion is that I had a lack of education,” Fry said. “I was a high school dropout and didn’t have that information.”
Had she seen an ultrasound of her unborn child and been told about fetal development, Fry said she probably would not have had an abortion.
Iowa Watch reports that a number of abortion facilities in the state also have closed due to a lack of business. Planned Parenthood closed 14 of its centers in the past four years, the report states.
“As good stewards of our resources, we chose to move staff and equipment to the locations where demand was higher,” said Penny Dickey, chief clinical officer of the Iowa Planned Parenthood affiliate. “This sometimes means that we have decided to close an under utilized center in one location in order to better meet the needs in another location.”
The Iowa report reflects a larger trend across the U.S. of women rejecting abortion and choosing life for their unborn babies. Abortions are dropping to historic lows all across the U.S.
In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control reported abortions reached their lowest point since Roe v. Wade in 2012. Earlier this year, the Guttmacher Institute reported that teen pregnancy and abortion rates also have fallen to record lows since the infamous Supreme Court abortion decision in 1973.
At their high decades ago, approximately 1 in 3 pregnancies ended in an abortion — resulting in brochures, banners and billboards proclaiming that fact and greying out every third baby displayed in pictures of newborn children. Thanks to pro-life laws, educational efforts, pregnancy centers and the actions of pro-life groups that have resulted in closing abortion clinics, now one in five pregnancies in the United States end in an abortion.
