Pro-Abortion Report on Unplanned Pregnancies Draws Pro-Life Objections
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 1, 2006
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the nation’s largest abortion business, released a report Tuesday grading states on their ability to prevent unplanned pregnancies. The report is drawing criticism from pro-life groups that say it’s biased towards those who favor abortion.
The study ranked California as the best state for providing women access to contraception and keeping unintended pregnancies low.
Alaska, South Carolina, Alabama and New York are others that rank highest in terms of promoting family planning.
But Concerned Women for American said the report just praises states that spend more on programs that benefit its parent group, Planned Parenthood, but have no evidence of reducing unintended pregnancies or abortions.
CWA says it’s wrong to assume that greater funding of family planning programs equals fewer unintended pregnancies.
"An ‘unintended pregnancy’ could be a wonderful surprise, not planned but welcome," said Wendy Wright, the group’s president. "Why should the government be in the business of ‘preventing’ a surprising but welcome pregnancy?"
Wright also pointed out that New York, one of the state’s in the top five in the AGI report, ranks highest in the nation in abortion rate. California also has one of the higher abortion rates in the nation.
"So clearly Guttmacher’s contrived standard of ‘reducing unintended pregnancies’ and funding its allies does not result in reducing abortion," Wright explained.
The AGI report also found that pro-life states like South Carolina and Alabama have been successful in reducing unintended pregnancies. South Carolina, in particular, has been a nationwide model for other states to follow in passing almost every kind of pro-life law allowed by the Supreme Court.
AGI’s report claimed nearly half of the 6 million pregnancies annually in the United States are unintended. There are about 1.2 million abortions per year.
"The majority of states are sliding backward," said Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute. "State budgets are under pressure, but not investing in family planning is shortsighted."
According to AGI, California was rated best because it has a family planning clinic in every county and spends $124 per woman on contraceptive services compared with the national rate of $79 per woman.
Nebraska ranked the lowest because it had the fewest centers per capita and spend relatively little taxpayer dollars on contraception.
Despite the AGI claims about Nebraska, Dr. Joann Schaefer, chief medical officer for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System, said both abortions and unplanned pregnancies have declined in her state.
"Since the 2004 election and the advent of ‘values voters,’ the abortion lobby has redefined, but not changed, its goal," Wright explained.
"Gone is the old slogan of ‘increase access to abortion’ and replaced with ‘reduce the need for abortion.’ Used by politicians, foundations, and abortion groups alike, the words may have changed but the result is the same — continued pressure for policies and programs that feed into the abortion industry," Wright concluded.
Related web sites:
Concerned Women for America – https://www.cwfa.org
