Minnesota Abortions Decline Three Percent, at Lowest Level Since 1975 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 30, 2006
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — The number of abortions in Minnesota declined three percent in 2005 and abortions there are now at their lowest levels since 1975. The all-time low puts Minnesota in a large list of states that have seen abortion totals go down dramatically during the Bush administration.
According to a new report from the Minnesota Department of Health there were 13,362 abortions reported in 2005, compared to 13,791 in 2004, a 3 percent decline.
The numbers show that, since 2001, President Bush’s first year in office, the number of abortions in Minnesota has decreased nine percent.
Scott Fischbach, the director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, credits the passage of pro-life laws in the state with driving down the number of abortions.
"More women are deciding to give life to their unborn babies in our state and this is a positive trend," Fischbach said in a statement provided to LifeNews.com. "The recent passage of life-affirming legislation to inform and support pregnant women is empowering them to give life to their unborn babies."
The 2005 abortion report covers the second year the Woman’s Right to Know law was in place, which requires abortion facilities to tell women about abortion’s risks and alternatives and provide them with fetal development information.
The latest report shows that, after they learned the facts about abortion, 2,573 women decided to give birth to their unborn babies.
Though abortions are on the decline, the number paid for with state taxpayer funds is on the rise.
Since 2001, the number of taxpayer funded abortions shot up 22 percent — from 3,369 to 4,104 from 2001 to 2004. Today’s abortion report reveals that abortions done on low-income women and paid for by taxpayers has reached 28.7 percent of all abortions.
"Minnesotans need to know that the abortion industry continues to market ‘free’ abortions to poor women as the only solution to an unexpected pregnancy," Fischbach said. "It is unconscionable that Planned Parenthood and other abortion promoters are carrying out their agenda of eliminating babies of poor women and sending the bill for their destruction to taxpayers."
MCCL supports the Abortion Regulation Act, a legislative effort by taxpayers and lawmakers that would ban nearly all taxpayer funding of abortion in Minnesota.
The House approved the idea twice in the last legislative session but the state Senate prevented a vote on it.
"Today’s report underscores the need to pass the Abortion Regulation Act," Fischbach continued. "Taxpayer funding has become a blank check for the abortion industry to perform abortions on every poor pregnant woman. The state must act to put a stop to this exploitation of the poor."
Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – https://www.mccl.org
Minnesota Department of Health – https://www.health.state.mn.us
