Georgia Teen Abortion and Pregnancy Rates Continue to Decline in 2004 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 2, 2006
Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) — Abortion and pregnancy rates for teenagers in Georgia have gone down for another year, the state health department has announced. The news is more evidence that abstinence education and pro-life efforts to tell women about pregnancy centers are working.
The new numbers cover from 1994, when Georgia led the nation in teen pregnancy rates, and 2004, the latest year with available data.
The teen abortion rate fell from 12.3 per 1,000 women aged 10-19 in 1994 to 7 per 1,000 in 2004. The teen pregnancy rate also fell from 50.1 pregnancies per 1,000 young women to 34.7 in 2004.
‘‘This decrease is good news,’’ Dr. Stuart Brown, director of the state Division of Public Health, told AP. ‘‘It shows that the prevention programs and education conducted through DPH and our partners are working.’’
But that’s not all that’s working in the southern state.
In November the state health department announced that abortions were down more than 5 percent from 2003 to 2004. Abortions performed in Georgia fell by a stunning 5.3 percent from 2003. There were 32,708 abortions in 2004, down from 34,545 in 2003.
Since their peak in 1990, abortions in Georgia have dropped 17 percent.
Officials with Georgia Right to Life credit a television campaign they began three years ago targeting DeKalb and Fulton counties, where an estimated 75 percent of abortions in the state occur.
The ads feature the 1-800-395-HELP phone number operated by national pregnancy centers organizations Care Net and Heartbeat International. When women with an unexpected pregnancy call the number, they are referred to local pregnancy centers that provide various forms of assistance.
GRTL says Atlanta pregnancy centers received the second highest volume of calls in the nation.
"We will continue to reach out to women in need so that they know abortion is not their only alternative," says GRTL president Caryl Swift.
"Research tells us that 60 percent of women entering an abortion facility don’t really want an abortion, but believe they have no alternative," Swift explained. "Eighty percent regret their decision. We care about saving women from the shame and guilt of abortions as well as saving babies’ lives."
Swift also said the 15 year decline was helped by the various laws her group has been able to pass in the state legislature.
Related web sites:
Georgia Right to Life – https://www.grtl.org
