NARAL Report Gives America D Grade For Limiting Abortions

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 14, 2011   |   6:59PM   |   Washington, DC

A prominent abortion advocacy group released a state-by-state report on the status of state laws on abortion heading into the 2011 legislative session, and it says America deserves a D grade for limiting abortions too much.

The report comes as state legislatures are expected to add a significant number of new abortion limits, with some stopping the abortion funding in the state exchanges created under Obamacare, others following Nebraska to ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy based on fetal pain, and others passing more traditional pro-life legislation such as unborn victims bills or parental notification measures.

“It is clear that the results of the 2010 elections could pose serious threats to the progress we celebrated in previous years’ reports,” NARAL president Nancy Keenan complained. “Some of our key pro-choice champions in Congress and in the states are not returning to their positions.”

“Some of their successors hold the most extreme anti-choice views ever seen,” she added. “And these changes mean women’s access to safe, legal abortion and other reproductive-health care could be further jeopardized. Our opponents will attempt to equate their election with presumed public support for anti-choice policies.”

The report, titled The Status of Women’s Reproductive Rights in the United States, is a “report card” grading the states and NARAL gives its top marks to California and Washington, which aggressively fund abortions and the Planned Parenthood abortion business with taxpayer dollars. They received A+ grades while Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, and Oregon received A grades from the pro-abortion group.

Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Vermont received a grade of A- and they are states where pro-life legislation rarely receives votes, let alone passes and becomes law. The District of Columbia joined those states, and it currently has taxpayer funding of abortions as well, thanks to the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress.

On the other side, a large collection of states received F grades because they have become havens for pro-life legislation that is helping women and preventing abortions. They include  Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

A separate point system also ranked the states and provided more clarity about the top and bottom states compared to the grade rankings. That system had California as the most pro-abortion state in the country with North Dakota as the most pro-life.

NARAL relied on laws like bans on partial-birth abortions, conscience clause measures protecting medical workers not wanting to participate in abortions, and limits on abortions at taxpayer-funded military bases to tally the national score.

Overall, the NARAL report indicates state legislatures approved numerous new pro-life limits since 1995, when there were 18 pro-life measures enacted. That rose to 644 pro-life laws on the books in various states — which produced a corresponding two-decade drop in abortions to historic lows in the mid 2000s.

The following is the NARAL ranking of states, with states getting a better grade having fewer pro-life laws protecting women and unborn children.

A+: California, Washington

A: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Oregon

A-: Alaska, District of Columbia, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont

B: West Virginia

B-: Illinois, Massachusetts

C+: Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Minnesota

C-: Wisconsin

D+: North Carolina, Rhode Island, Wyoming

D: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee

D-: Kansas

F: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia