Report: Late-Term, Teen Abortions Increase Under Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 3, 2009
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — A new report indicates the number of late-term abortions and teen abortions in Kansas have gone up under Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. President Barack Obama appointed Sebelius to become his health secretary and pro-life groups are highlighting her pro-abortion record as a reason to oppose her nomination.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment released its preliminary report of abortion statistics for 2008 today.
The report indicates late-term abortions, done after 22 weeks into pregnancy, went up approximately 10 percet from 2007 to 2008 with an increase from 293 to 323 abortions.
In addition, abortions on viable babies increased 10 percent from 168 to 192 abortions last year.
The data also revealed that abortions on minors under the age of 15 increased five percent from 55 to 58 abortions in 2008.
The number of abortions using the dangerous mifepristone (RU 486) abortion drug also increased, according to the new report from the state health department. It found the use of the drug, which has killed more than a dozen women worldwide and injured thousands in the United States, rising from 1,795 to 1,900 last year.
Mary Kay Culp, the executive director of Kansans for Life, told LifeNews.com the report’s timing was off from when it is normally released.
"Interestingly, the abortion statistics report was released over a week later than usual, and on the last day of the state legislature’s regular session, leading one to wonder if the delay was political in nature," she said.
The report came out at the end of a week that saw the Senate hold two different hearings on Sebelius’ nomination.
The report found the overall number of abortions in Kansas from 2007 to 2008 decreased approximately two percent from 10,836 to 10,642 abortions last year.
A report from the health department last year showed the number of abortions done in 2007 dropped 4 percent from 2006.
In that report, 5,886 abortions were done on Kansas women and the rest were done on women coming to Kansas from other states.
Kansas continues to draw women from across the country for late-term abortions at the Planned Parenthood in Overland Park and the abortion business run by George Tiller — two of the handful of places in the nation to get abortions late in pregnancy.
The 2007 abortion decline came after the health department showed a 6.5 percent increase in abortions from 2005 to 2006. That increase was the first since 2001.
Related web sites:
Kansans for Life – https://www.kfl.org
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