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Abortions reach 30-year low in Minnesota, following new restrictions

Thread ID: 19181 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-07-17

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Petr [OP]

2005-07-17 08:33 | User Profile

[I]I think this is pretty positive news - apparently you can indeed legislate morality...

(R.J. Rushdoony said that morality is the [B]only[/B] thing you can legislate)[/I]

[url]http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12122432.htm[/url]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=5]Abortions reach 30-year low[/SIZE]

[B]BY MARTIGA LOHN

ASSOCIATED PRESS[/B] Posted on Wed, Jul. 13, 2005

ST. PAUL - [B]The number of abortions in Minnesota dropped to a 30-year low in the first full year after the state passed a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions.[/B]

Abortion opponents and supporters of legalized abortion disagreed Tuesday whether the decline could be attributed to the waiting period. The law, which supporters call Women's Right to Know, requires that women receive specific information from their doctor before an abortion.

The number of abortions in 2004 dipped to 13,788, the lowest level since 1975, the first year the state Health Department started tallying the numbers. The department has been reporting annual abortion figures to the Legislature for the past five years.

The number of abortions in the state has been falling since it peaked in 1980 at more than 19,000 -- a curve that mimics a national trend. And the drop transcends shifting demographics: Minnesota's rate of abortions among women in their childbearing years (classified as ages 15 through 44) also has been on the decline.

Since July 2003, state law requires doctors to give women who seek abortions information about medical risks, gestational age of the unborn child, potential fetal pain, subsidized health coverage for childbirth and prenatal and infant care, and child support laws.

For the first time, this year's abortion report also included the number of women -- 15,859 -- who contacted doctors and got the required information about abortion.

That helps calculate a hotly debated number -- more than 2,000 women who sought abortions and apparently didn't go through with them.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Abortion opponents said the 24-hour waiting period helped some of those women change their minds about getting abortions. Abortion rights backers said more data is needed to explain why the women decided against abortion or to show that the number is related to the informed consent law at all.[/FONT]


jay

2005-07-17 17:34 | User Profile

I guess more Hmong are being born than otherwise would.

This is great news. (shrug)


Angler

2005-07-18 04:23 | User Profile

Unless I overlooked something, the article fails to address a key question: Are many Minnesota women simply driving to neighboring states to have abortions instead? Maybe some women started doing that since the waiting period was enacted, although I suspect that most people would rather just wait out the waiting period rather than drive all the way to another state (unless they're near the border).


starr

2005-07-18 04:46 | User Profile

I wouldn't think a 24 hour waiting period would be a big deal to most people who have already made the decision to kill their child. If they can't get rid of the inconvience today, they can just do it tomorrow.

[QUOTE] I guess more Hmong are being born than otherwise would. [/QUOTE]correct, along with Somalis, mexicans and American niggers.