Abortions are Declining Nationwide
RU 486 Vote Sought
Abortion Advocates Threaten Pregnancy Centers with Congressional Bill
Kansas Abortionist Hits a Pro-Lifer With His Car
New Zealand Sues Distributors of Illegally Imported Chinese Abortion Drugs
Vietnam Abortion Rates Very High; One Woman Dies Every 5 Days
South Dakota Abortion Ban Update
Doctors Seek Asylum After Exposing Ukraine Abortion for Cosmetics Scandal
March of Dimes Update
ABORTIONS ARE DECLINING NATIONWIDE. One of the untold stories in the abortion debate today is the significant progress that's been made in reducing the number of abortions.
Because of dozens of pro-life laws approved by state legislatures each year, the growth and effectiveness of pregnancy centers, and the popularity of abstinence among teenagers, states across the country are seeing abortions decline.
In some cases they've reached their lowest abortion total since Roe. Researcher Gerald Stassen came out with a study just before the 2004 presidential elections claiming abortions were increasing under President Bush's watch. Stassen only bothered to look at abortion numbers in 16 states to come up with his analysis. In Illinois, he used a figure showing abortions up in 2001, ignoring that they went down 10 percent in 2002. In Wisconsin, Stassen said abortions went up, but the state health department said they went down. And in South Dakota, Stassen mistook an increase in the birth rate for an increase in the number of abortions.
After both sides of the abortion debate refuted his claims, Stassen admitted that an analysis by the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute was "significantly better" than his own.
AGI, a Planned Parenthood partner, said abortions had gone down by a total of 1.6 percent over the years 2001 and 2002.
University of Alabama political science professor and statistician Dr. Michael New has conducted extensive analysis on abortion laws and abortion figures and determined that the hundreds of pro-life laws state legislature approved contributed significantly to the 17.4 percent abortion decline during the 1990s.
That abortion decline is continuing into the current decade.
There are no reliable national abortion figures since 2002, but looking at new abortion totals from every state that has reported over the last 18 months shows abortions are on the decline again.
* The number of abortions in Tennessee has dropped to its lowest level in almost 30 years. Not since 1977 has the number of annual abortions been this low. The number of abortions in 2004 dropped by more than 1,000, a 6.9 percent decline.
* New figures in November from the Georgia Department of Health reveal the number of abortions is down more than 5 percent. According to health officials, abortions performed in Georgia fell 5.3 percent from 2003's totals.
* The new Pennsylvania figures show a decline of 2.4% in 2004.
* Minnesota's abortion numbers are down to their lowest totals since 1975. The Minnesota Department of Health says there were 13,788 abortions reported in 2004, compared to 14,174 in 2003 — a decrease of nearly three percent.
* New statistics in the state of Illinois show a 10 percent drop in the number of abortions performed last year. They're at the lowest level since Roe.
* The Michigan Department of Community Health reports 26,269 abortions were performed in Michigan during 2004 compared to 29,540 Michigan abortions in 2003, a decrease of 11.1 percent.
* Abortions on women in Washington state are at their lowest points since the state started collecting data in 1980, according to a May 2005 report.
* Also in May, the state of Wisconsin reported that abortion rates there are at their lowest levels since 1974.
* Abortions in Oregon are down to their lowest levels since 1998, having decreased 20 percent between then and 2004.
* Abortions in Kentucky have been steadily dropping for more than a decade with 3,502 in 2002 and 9,590 in 1991.
* Since 1988, abortions have dropped 53 percent in South Carolina.
* After peaking at 8,814 in 1991, the number of abortions in 2004 in Mississippi fell to just over 3,000.
* Abortions in Kansas are still on the decline, having dropped again for the fourth year in a row. In 2005, abortions there decreased significantly, with a decline of 8 percent from the previous year.
Even one abortion is one too many and our job is far from over. LifeNews.com will continue to bring you in-depth reporting on all of the pro-life battles we face in our goal to end abortion entirely. [3Apr06 LifeNews.com]
KANSAS ABORTIONS DROP 8 PERCENT IN 2005, 4th Year of Continued Decline. The state health department reported that there were 10,542 abortions in Kansas in 2005, a drop from 11,446 in 2004. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says abortion has declined every year since 2001, when there were 12,422 abortions. 46.6 percent of all abortions were done on women from other states, mostly MO. College-aged women in the 20-24 year-old category had the highest number of abortions followed by women aged 25-29; third highest number of abortions was among teenagers 15-19. [1Apr06, LifeNews.com]
ABORTIONS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC DROP 4% IN 2005, Lowest Ever. The number of abortions in the Czech Republic is on the decline and dropped by four percent. There were 26,450 abortions in 2005 and 20 percent of them were performed for so-called "health reasons" according to the European nation's government (27,574 abortions were performed in 2004).
The number of abortions is at its lowest level since abortion was legalized in 1958 and the figure is 5 times lower than their peak during the 1980s. The Health Information and Statistics Institute reported that women who already have children were more likely to get an abortion. Some 35 percent of those obtaining abortions already have two children. That trend is consistent with abortion figures from other eastern Eu
ropean nations, which have a culture where abortion is widely regarded as a method of birth control. [1Apr06, LifeNews.com, Prague]
ABORTION PRACTITIONERS ADMIT RU 486 ABORTION DRUG UNSAFE, "Lousy" for Women. After the Food and Drug Administration reported two additional deaths resulting from the use of the RU 486 abortion drug, pro-life groups and lawmakers again declared the drug unsafe and called for it to be taken off the market. Two abortion practitioners are surprised by the deaths and say the drug shouldn't be used.
Peter Bours, an abortion practitioner in Portland, Oregon, says he's surprised by the two new deaths — bringing the total number of women in the U.S. who have died to 7. "None of these women should be dying; it's shocking," [New York Times]. He added that he's rethinking whether he should continue giving women the abortion pill.
Warren Hearn, one of the few abortion practitioners in the nation to do the "less safe" late-term abortion, said the latest information about the women's death prove RU 486 abortions are riskier than surgical abortions: "I think surgery should be the procedure of choice". He called the RU 486 abortion drug "a lousy way to perform an abortion." While the abortion practitioners are concerned about the safety of the abortion pills, Planned Parenthood — which only recently announced it would finally follow some FDA protocols on administering the drug — still claims RU 486 is safe for women. [1Apr06, LifeNews.com]
RU-486 VOTE SOUGHT. A group of 47 House Republicans yesterday wrote a letter to House Majority Leader John Boehner [R-OH] demanding that the House vote soon on a bill that would pull RU-486 from the market because of possible health risks it poses to women. "The health and lives of women throughout the U.S. depend upon it," states the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett [R-MD] referring to what is called the abortion pill, RU-486, or mifepristone.
The Food and Drug Administration now recognizes 5 confirmed deaths associated with the drug and has received 840 reports of serious complications, the letter states.
The FDA — along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — will hold a workshop in May to examine RU-486, but the House Republicans say that's not good enough.
"The FDA's highest 'black box' warning and planned workshop are clearly not protecting American women from this dangerous drug," the letter states. "It is obvious that Congress must take action in order to pull this deadly toxin from the market before more women die."
The House Republicans argue that a House vote on the bill — which would withdraw FDA approval of RU-486 and send it back for review — "would put the House of Representatives firmly on record as dedicated to preserving the lives and well-being of all women and to holding the FDA accountable for the manner in which it approves pharmaceutical products."
[http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060411-015502-3852r.htm
Washington Times, By Greg Pierce, 11April2006]
ABORTION ADVOCATES THREATEN PREGNANCY CENTERS WITH CONGRESSIONAL BILL. Pregnancy centers offer women practical help and resources that often prompt them to not have an abortion. The pro-abortion lawmakers allege the centers are engaged in false advertising. Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY] introduced a bill that directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a rule prohibiting pregnancy centers from trying to "deceive" women into thinking they perform abortions. “I anticipate my colleagues across the political spectrum will step-up to stop the fraud being perpetrated against the women of America," she said in filing her bill.
Three groups that represent thousands of pregnancy centers across the country said Maloney's bill is an "old recycled" attempt to attack pregnancy centers, and denies women the chance to get information showing them abortion alternatives. "This is nothing more than a routine attack on pregnancy centers by organizations seeking to limit their competition," Care Net president Kurt Entsminger said. "Our network of pregnancy centers are held to a high standard of integrity regarding truth and honesty in advertising," he added.
"We find it particularly curious that in her announcement Rep. Maloney did not cite one example of a pregnancy center that is engaging in deceptive advertising." [1Apr06, LifeNews.com]
KS ABORTIONIST WHO KILLED GIRL IN FAILED ABORTION HITS PRO-LIFER WITH CAR. A Kansas late-term abortion practitioner who killed a 19 year-old girl in a botched abortion last year has allegedly run over a pro-life person with his car who was outside his abortion site. George Tiller, who may soon find himself subject to a grand jury investigation, apparently struck the protester with his vehicle 5Apr06.
According to eyewitnesses, Tiller was leaving his Women’s Health Care Services (WHCS) abortion facility, when he sped out of the parking lot and struck Geitzen in the leg: "I turned to see Tiller coming right at me”. Eyewitnesses said Tiller immediately fled the scene. [LifeNews.com, 7Apr06, Wichita]
NEW ZEALAND SUES DISTRIBUTORS OF ILLEGALLY IMPORTED CHINA ABORTION DRUGS. Director General of Health Poutasi also issued a warning to women to avoid taking the abortion and morning after pills that distributors have obtained and disseminated. She said the drugs, which could be tainted, could present dangerous health problems for women.
Poutasi warned that women who have used the illegally distributed drugs should see a doctor immediately. The drugs are labeled in Chinese and apparently made in China and some of them have been seized by police and customers officials as they entered the country. Officials have been cracking down on the illegal imports for some time and think their campaign is beginning to make progress. [LifeNews.com, 7Apr06]
VIETNAM ABORTION RATES VERY HIGH, ONE WOMAN DIES EVERY 5 DAYS. New reports out of Vietnam, where abortion is legal, are showing the number of abortions in the Communist nation is staggeringly high. In addition, one woman dies form a legal abortion in the Asian nation every five days.
The local Pioneer newspaper reported on Monday that there are 83 abortions for every 1,000 Vietnamese women of the childbearing age.
That compares with a birth rate of only 17 babies born per 1,000 women.
The report said each local Vietnamese woman has approximately 2.5 abortions in her lifetime. About one-third to one-half of the abortions performed there are done in small health clinics but women are dying at an alarming rate. The Vietnamese government is hoping to lower the abortion rates and is encouraging the 83 million people who live there to use contraception in higher numbers. It is also planning a new sex education campaign to encourage teens and young adults to use contraception as well.
Vietnam has long had one of the highest abortion rates in both Asia and the world and the number of abortions has been on the rise. According to national health statistics, 760,000 abortions were carried out in 1989, 1.3 million in 1994 and 1.4 million in 1995.
In 1999, the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, reported that Vietnam had the highest abortion rate of any nation.
While experts say the communist government does not espouse abortion as a birth control method, the procedure is "heavily subsidized by the government," and "many published family planning campaigns still list abortion as a method of birth control" according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency.
Vietnam is one of two countries to receive an award from the United Nations in 1998 for its population control programs. In Vietnam, abortion is legal and available as part of overall family planning services provided at various provincial, district and communal health facilities. Approximately 51 percent of the residents of Viet Nam are women. [3Apr06, Hanoi, Vietnam LifeNews.com]
HUNGARIAN BOYCOTT THWARTS DISTRIBUTION OF RU 486. Dr. Teglasy [Hungarian HLI leader] has promoted education regarding RU486 & a consumer boycott of any company that would distribute RU 486 in Hungary. So far, no firm has applied for the National Pharmaceutical Committee’s permission to distribute RU 486. Hungary’s birthrate is only 1.32; the population dropped below 10 million in 2005. [J. Meaney, 10/05; HLI Special Report, 2/06]
Slovakian Anna Zaborska has been a member of the European Parliament since her nation joined the EU in 2004. Strongly pro-life, this chairwoman of the EP’s women’s committee courageously resists the radical feminist agenda within the EU. Slovakia has a strongly pro-life population of about 5, 400,000. Their pro-life groups work together through the Forum of Life, www.forumzivota.sk. The abortion-on-demand law, imposed in the 1950s, still remains. While they are trying to provide right of conscience for physicians, it has not yet happened. [HLI Special Report, 254, 2/06; www.hli.org]
SOUTH DAKOTA ABORTION ADVOCATES MAKE ABORTION BAN PETITION DRIVE OFFICIAL. South Dakota abortion advocates have officially launched their effort to gather enough petitions to put a ban on almost all abortions approved by the state legislature on the November ballot. Pro-abortion groups would need to collect almost 17,000 signatures by June 19th to place the ban on the ballot. They are also quietly moving people into SD to establish residency. Their hope is to defeat the ban outright without having to file a lawsuit that could eventually reach a changed Supreme Court willing to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Abortion advocates formed a new coalition called South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families [emphasis added] to collect enough signatures. Those who perform abortions would be fined $5,000 and be jailed for 5 years under the bill. One the life of the mother exception is included and attempts must be made to save the baby's life as well in such circumstances.
If abortion advocates lose at the ballot they could still file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law. 45 abortion supporters showed up to a press conference to announce the petition drive. [LifeNews.com 26Mar06] A South Dakota Indian tribe, the Oglala Sioux, said it will open an abortion clinic on tribal lands, one which would not be subject to the ban because of Indian sovereignty.
These actions are hardly surprising. When Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill into law in 2/06, he stated that he expected it to be tied up in court for years and not take effect at all unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds it. Rep. Roger Hunt, the prime sponsor of House Bill 1215, said South Dakota is prepared for the pro-abortion assault. There is a long history of passing pro-life legislation. With that history, Hunt said lawmakers decided to do some homework.
They created a 17-member task force to study the issue of abortion. "We know a lot more now" about the medical and scientific issues surrounding abortion, Hunt said, than the Supreme Court did in 1973, when it ruled in Roe v. Wade.
"The medical and scientific evidence for protecting unborn children is now simply overwhelming," he said. "When we're talking of unborn children, we're not just talking of some glob of tissue, we're talking of a separate human being, with DNA separate from the mother, with a separate gene system. The medical and scientific communities clearly established that unborns are children whose lives are being taken by the abortion process."
John Paulton, director of family policy councils for Focus on the Family Action, headed the South Dakota Family Policy Council for eight years. He said it took years for the Legislature to come to the point of even considering pro-life legislation. South Dakota 's success on pro-life legislation can be reproduced in other states, he said, but it will take time to develop a pro-life consensus. "Get as organized as you can," he advised. "Get as big of an army as you can. And speak out. You don't always have to win to be successful." You may start out with a bill that doesn't go anywhere, Paulton said, but don't let that stop you. "Use that to raise the issue, to raise awareness in people and get them to speak out. Remember how the politicians voted come election time, and remind other pro-life people of that," he said. "Most importantly, be persistent — year after year after year, if necessary. You may be surprised." [Citizen Link, March 27, 2006, Pete Winn, FotF]
ALABAMA LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE BILLS TO BAN VIRTUALLY ALL ABORTIONS. lawmakers in the Alabama state legislature have introduced legislation that would ban virtually all abortions in the state. The only exce
ption would be in extremely rare cases to prevent the death of the mother.
"I thought if South Dakota can do it, Alabama ought to do it because we are a family friendly state," Republican state Sen. Hank Erwin told the Associated Press. "I don't think you need to penalize the unborn child when something like that happens," Erwin said about why he did not add rape or incest exceptions to the abortion ban. Rep. Nick Williams, also a Republican, introduced a similar bill in the state House.
Both bills have been assigned to committees and would make performing an abortion a felony crime. Only seven days remain in the legislative session and the bills may not get a hearing, but backers say they would file similar measures next session. [LifeNews.com 26Mar06]
MS LAWMAKERS FAIL TO AGREE ON ABORTION BAN COMPROMISE. Mississippi lawmakers failed to reach a compromise on the final draft of legislation to ban most all abortions after both chambers approved differently-worded bills. Legislators had an 8 p.m. deadline Monday night to finalize the language of the bill but they spent most of the time arguing with each other. Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, had said he would sign the abortion ban if it reached his desk. [www.prolifemississippi.org LifeNews.com 28Mar06 <http://www.lifenews.com/stopabortion.jpg> Jackson] Time may be extended for this bill.
DOCTORS SEEK ASYLUM AFTER EXPOSING UKRAINE ABORTION FOR COSMETICS SCANDAL. Two Ukraininan doctors, Vadym Lazaryev and Vladymyr Ishchenko, have been seeking asylum in Ireland since 2004, after they were forced to flee their country for exposing appalling human rights abuses of women and unborn children in the Ukraine.
The doctors were part of a group working to uncover a system of medical trafficking in the bodies of unborn babies, European Life Network reported today. Doctors were deceiving women into aborting their babies for false "medical" reasons, and then selling the bodies of the children.
The children would be aborted live, and their bodies cut into separate organs. In some cases live dissection took place. Most of the body parts were apparently sold to the burgeoning cosmetic industry of "foetal tissue" youth-enhancing treatments, as well as quack "medical therapies."
In many cases, women were paid to get pregnant and to deliver the baby at a given gestation. They were paid a higher price for carrying the child closer to term, since abortion is illegal in the Ukraine after 12 weeks gestation.
In September 2005 the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, issued a report on the disappearance of newborn babies in the Ukraine. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold called for an immediate re-opening of judicial investigations into allegations of trafficking of babies for adoption and of aborted or premature babies for "scientific" purposes, after visiting the Ukraine August 29-Sept. 1, 2005.
She obtained detailed information on four cases during her visit, reported the Council of Europe Press. In one instance, the family of the missing child had been told by doctors that their baby had died but had not been given permission to see or bury the baby.
Doctors Vadym L. and Vladymyr I. had full police participation in their investigation, but when the investigation revealed government sanction of the trafficking and the involvement of prominent doctors, they were advised to stop. The police told them they could not guarantee their safety. After an attempt was made on their lives, they fled the country to Ireland, leaving behind their families. A documentary on the expose was screened in the Ukraine after they had left.
They are now seeking permanent asylum in Ireland for themselves and their families. Both have children-Dr. Vladymyr Ischenko has not seen his first children, twins who were born six months after he fled the Ukraine.
After four intensive interviews over fifteen months, they were denied refuge in 1/06. Their appeal will be heard in Dublin March 30. It could take up to a year for the outcome to be known. (Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Ahern will officially open Homosexual Activist Office) Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern [email protected]; Minister for Justice: Michael Mc Dowell [email protected]; http://www.savethedoctors.org; http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1461654,00.html
Abortion Encouraged in Ukraine as Unborn Babies Used for Russian Beauty Treatments
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05052411.html [By Gudrun Schultz, Ireland, 29March06 LifeSiteNews.com]
MARCH OF DIMES UPDATE. “The MOD has released its ‘global report on birth defects’, a detailed report of many birth defects and their frequency in the USA & other countries. It suggests that with proper prenatal and after-birth ‘treatment’, 70% of the defects and deaths can be avoided.
"Accordingly, they listed some ‘healthy initiative and prevention programs’. The list includes laudable possibilities such as nutrition programs, folic acid supplements, intra-uterine surgery, etc. It also includes, with apparent MOD approval, genetic testing, prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome, and infant screening for rare metabolic disorders.
"The obvious suggestion is that in these cases the ‘treatment’ would be abortion. So, as it has for the last 3-4 decades, the MOD continues to subtly suggest abortion for genetic defects. This is why the Right to Life movement has consistently recommended over the years that you send your contributions to other completely pro-life organizations. [Note: A pro-life alternative to the March of Dimes is The Michael Fund, < /span>www.michaelfund.org.]” [J. Willke, MD, Cincinnati Right to Life, 3/06]