Wisconsin Abortion Numbers at Lowest Levels Since 1974 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 27, 2005
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) — Thanks to pro-life legislation and education, abortion rates in Wisconsin are at their lowest levels since 1974, according to new state figures. Abortion advocates and pro-life groups disputed the reasons for the decline.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, there were 9,943 abortions in the state last year, less than half of the all-time high of 21,754 in 1980.
In addition, the abortion rate is also less than half of its peak. Last year, there were 14 abortions for every 100 births in Wisconsin while there were 29 abortions per 100 births in 1980.
The state health department also shows that there were nine abortions per 1,000 Wisconsin women in 2004 but a high of 20 per 1,000 women in 1980.
Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, told the Associated Press her group is "absolutely elated that (abortions) continue to go down."
Lyons said the number of abortions is one the decline because younger state residents are more pro-life, because of television commercials her group has run directing women to crisis pregnancy centers.
Lyons also cited a 1998 law requiring abortion facilities to tell women about abortion’s risks and alternatives. Similar laws in other states have reduced the number of abortions by about one-third.
But, Lisa Boyce, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, told AP that "the reduction in abortions can be directly attributed to improved access to birth control and responsible sex education."
Other states have shown similar record declines in the number of abortions.
The number of abortions performed on Kansas women has declined 10% since 1996 and abortions in Kentucky have been steadily dropping for more than a decade with 3,502 in 2002 and 9,590 in 1991.
New statistics in the state of Illinois show a whopping 10 percent drop in the number of abortions performed last year. The new numbers take the state to its lowest number of annual abortions in thirty years.
Since 1988, abortions have dropped a whopping 53 percent in South Carolina. After peaking at 8,814 in 1991, the number of abortions in 2002 in Mississippi fell to just 3,605.
Related web sites:
Wisconsin Right to Life – https://www.wrtl.org
