New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has an interesting way of helping women in the Big Apple. In response to the dustup over Komen’s decision to yank funding from Planned Parenthood, he’s giving the abortion business $250,000.
“Politics have no place in health care,” he said in a statement. “Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way.”
In a statement Thursday, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation, Cecile Richards, expressed appreciation for Bloomberg’s gift.
“This contribution will help ensure that politics don’t interfere with women having access to health care,” she said. “People all across the country have stepped forward in the last 48 hours to offer help and support, and the mayor’s donation will help ensure that no woman is denied breast cancer services because of right-wing political pressure campaigns.”
But the donation comes just weeks after the foundation that released shocking abortion numbers from New York City last year— turning it into what observers called the abortion capital of the Untied States — unveiled new figures from the Big Apple. They haven’t changed.
More than 83,000 abortions were performed in New York City in 2010 — making it so 40 percent of all pregnancies in the nation’s largest city end in abortion. That’s virtually unchanged from the 41 percent that ended in abortion in 2009, according to the city health department.
The New York City-based Chiaroscuro Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports alternatives to abortion, released the figures to LifeNews after the 2010 data was just released to the public by the New York City Department of Health. For the first time ever, the abortion and pregnancy statistics were itemized separately as requested by the Foundation one year ago.
“We are glad that fewer abortions were performed in 2010, following a national trend over the past couple of decades, but obviously we would like to see much more significant progress moving forward,” said Greg Pfundstein, Executive Director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “In parts of the city more than half of all pregnancies end in abortion – this is very, very disturbing.”
New York City has the highest abortion rates in the nation – nearly double the national average of 23%.
According to the most recent statistics, just made available by the New York City Department of Health:
* There were 208,541 pregnancies in New York City in 2010. They resulted in 124,791 live births and 83,750 abortions, a 40% abortion rate.
* Among non-Hispanic blacks there were far more abortions than births, 38,574 to 26,635, or 60%. So for every 1,000 African-American babies born, 1,448 were aborted.
* Among Non-Hispanic black teens, the abortion rate was even greater – 5,956 abortions to 2,265 live births, or 72%. For every 1,000 African-American babies born to teens, 2,630 were aborted.
* The abortion rate among teens as a whole was 63% – 12,139 abortions to 7,207 live births. For every 1,000 babies born among New York City teens 1,684 were aborted.
* Some 16% of all pregnancies in New York City – 14% of abortions – were with teen mothers, 54% of abortions were with mothers in their 20′s; 30% of abortions were with mothers in their 30′s or 40′s; and 14% of abortions were with married mothers.
