Yet another state is seeing the number of abortions dropping to record lows. North Dakota, like so many other states across the country seeing historic low abortion totals, has passed several pieces of pro-life legislation in recent years that is building a culture of lie along with educational efforts, pregnancy centers and prayer campaigns like 40 Days for Life.
A new report today indicates the lone abortion business in the state did fewer abortions on unborn babies — almost 100 — in 2015 compared with the year prior.
The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo performed 1,166 abortions last year, down from 1,264 in 2014, according to the state Department of Health, which began tracking such statistics in 1981.
The previous low was 1,182 abortions in 2013. The high was 3,076 in 1982.
Of the abortions performed in North Dakota last year, 822 of the women were from North Dakota, 280 were from Minnesota, 55 were from South Dakota and nine were from other states.
In a statement issued Thursday, Bishop John Thomas Folda of Fargo, speaking as president of the North Dakota Catholic Conference, noted that numbers from the state Department of Health show 6.77 percent of pregnant women in North Dakota had abortions in 2015 — the lowest percentage since 1998, the year that statistic started to be tracked.
Fulda said the downward trend “is a testament to the hard and often difficult work of pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, maternity homes which have expanded and touched so many women and children during these years. It is also a testament to the commitment of North Dakotans to the culture of life at every level.”
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On a national level, the Centers for Disease Control last year reported another historic low in the number of babies aborted.
Although approximately 699,000 babies lost their lives in abortions in 2012, the latest year CDC has produced figures for, that represents a decline of about half since the highs of more than 1.5 million in the late 1980s, when the effect of legalizing abortion in 1973 finally took its full effect. That is a decline from the 730,322 babies who died from abortions in 2011, according to CDC’s report last year.
“The abortion rate for 2012 was 13.2 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, and the abortion ratio was 210 abortions per 1,000 live births,” the report indicated.
At their high decades ago, approximately 1 in 3 pregnancies ended in an abortion — resulting in brochures, banners and billboards proclaiming that fact and greying out every third baby displayed in pictures of newborn children. Thanks to pro-life laws, educational efforts, pregnancy centers and the actions of pro-life groups that have resulted in closing down abortion clinics, now just one in five pregnancies in the United States end in an abortion.
